


All Good Things (Come to an End)

by sleepytime



Series: Everything Comes to an End [2]
Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Finally proofread all chapters, M/M, Minhyun appears in chapter 8, all characters are mean because I am mean, i suck at writing story summaries, probably suck at writing stories too, this is supposed to be a comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2018-12-07 18:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 51,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11629134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepytime/pseuds/sleepytime
Summary: Daniel and Seongwoo are dating for more than 2 years. Divergence between the two creeps in.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. The prequel “All Uncertainties (Come to an End)” is out^^. As this piece of work is completed before the prequel (obviously), there is no need to read that in order to understand this one, unless you wish to read everything in a chronological order. In that case, it is advisable to read the prequel first.
> 
> 2\. If you are interested in knowing what the endgame will be before the end, please visit my long-dormant tumblr :). The only post there is the one that indicates the endgame of this story. I don't want to post it here because I guess there may be people who don't want to be spoiled about what happens next.
> 
> https://sleepytimesleepy.tumblr.com/
> 
> Please refrain from spoiling the endgame in your comments (even though I don't think I will receive many). Thank you. Other than that, comments are most definitely welcomed :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's such a nightmare when you have so many ideas in your mind but you are so bad at writing it out. English is not my first language so please forgive me if my grammar sucks (it probably does). Will beta soon.

Daniel is lying down on the sofa with his phone in his hands, running out of things to check out. He has scrolled through Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat twice (dubbed as the “social media loop” by Seongwoo). Seongwoo is sitting on the other end of the sofa, complaining about work to Daniel.

Another ordinary weekend.

“…and then that woman simply storms into our store, tries on all kinds of make up, asks tons of questions about the products, but she buys ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. She does this EVERY SINGLE DAY in this week. Minki just texted me about serving a similarly weird customer at his store. It has to be the same woman! I feel like she does this in ALL make up stores in Busan. It’s so. freaking. irritating. _Ugh_.”

Daniel responds with a hum as usual, not paying full attention to what Seongwoo blabbers. He is very used to his boyfriend’s rants about his job.

“And, you know what…, Daehwi broke up again.”

The sudden change of topic catches Daniel’s attention, and he is mildly disturbed by Seongwoo’s lack of elaboration about what happened to Daehwi.

“By _broke up_ you mean…?” asks Daniel.  

Seongwoo is visibly hesitant.

“The autopsy report says the cause of death of his boyfriend is unknown,” mutters Seongwoo.

“Are you fucking serious?" Daniel finally sits up straight, staring at Seongwoo, completely dumbfounded. "Again?"

“Well…Daehwi and his boyfriend were getting a massage in the hotel, where they stayed in Thailand. Apparently all people in the room, Daehwi and the masseuses included, thought his boyfriend was just asleep on the massage table during the aromatherapy session,” Seongwoo recounts, “but he was actually… dead, like, all of a sudden.”

“Fuck. This is even creepier than last time where his boyfriend fell from the window in his office.”

Seongwoo hesitates to agree with Daniel, but he nods his head after a short pause. “I know, and also that time where his boyfriend got knocked over by a lorry, and the other time where his boyfriend accidentally poisoned himself with chlorine gas by drunkenly mixing bleach and vinegar. But…it’s an accident. I mean, all these are accidents, right?”

“It’s getting harder and harder to simply brush it off like this. The thing is, he was with 4 different guys, and they ALL end up _DEAD_! The mortality rate of becoming his boyfriend remains to be ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT.”

“Everyone dies in long run,” Seongwoo replies dryly, “Can you be less harsh?”

“I mean, although I don’t even know how Daehwi looks like, cause I have never met him, and I have only heard about him from you, I care about Daehwi too. He is your friend after all," replies Daniel, "still, he has to tell his future boyfriend about this, right? This is very creepy, and it’s about that person’s safety.” 

“If I were Daehwi, I’d rather not tell. His past relationships have nothing to do with his current one. What’s the point of being excessively honest?” 

“You should let people choose, right? I mean, if that guy chooses to stay even after knowing that, I have nothing to add," Daniel reasons, "By the way, show me how Daehwi looks like, I’m super intrigued.”

“I got a new phone and all my older photos are in my computer,” Seongwoo takes out his phone and scrolls through his photo album, “I don’t think I have any photos of Daehwi in this phone…oh wait, there’s a group photo.”

Seongwoo handed to Daniel his phone, showing the photo where Seongwoo, Daehwi, Jisung and two other men are in it. Daniel squints at the photo and quickly asks with assertion, “Daehwi is the one on the furthest left? 

“How do you even know?” Seongwoo gasps, “Jisung should be the only one you know in this photo other than me.”

“So it’s him, right?” Daniel wonders, with a finger pointing at Daehwi in the group photo.

Seongwoo nods fervently.

After a pause, Daniel retracts his finger on the phone to mildly massage his temple, “gosh, your friend is a real jinx. I feel kinda dizzy just by looking at his face.”

“Tsk. Don't blame it on my friend," Seongwoo tucks his phone back to his pocket. "Are you alright? You have been feeling unwell these days.”

Daniel does not immediately respond. Instead, he leans on Seongwoo’s shoulder, eyes smiling as he mutters affectionately, “Can I be excused from doing the dishes?”

“You sneaky bitch," Seongwoo snorts and gives Daniel his classic death stare, "I am amazed by how many different types of excuses you can give. It’s been 2 years and you never repeat any of them.”

“ _Please_ …,” drawls Daniel, looking at Seongwoo with his puppy eyes. 

Seongwoo crosses his arms and trots to the kitchen, “I hate you. But you are lucky that I love you. And it’s good that you are in advertising,” grunts Seongwoo, as he turns the tap and starts rinsing the dishes, “at least in some other occasions your creativity is put into good use.”

Daniel chuckles and lies down on the sofa again.“Hey… I want some chips too. Can you bring some back here from the kitchen after you finish doing the dishes?”

“YOU. GO. FUCK. YOUR. SELF.”

* * *

Life goes on.

It is the birthday of Seongwoo and Seonho’s mother. A “family gathering” in Busan’s most expensive Korean Barbecue restaurant (supposedly attended by Seongwoo, Seonho, their mother, and Daniel) was arranged by Seonho as a 'celebration', even though Seongwoo secretly thinks it’s just an excuse for Seonho to wolf down more meat.

The problem is — Daniel is now late for almost an hour. Seongwoo has been repeatedly calling Daniel, but his phone appears to have been turned off.  He can tell that Seonho is obviously _HANGRY_ , and his own stomach is growling also.

“Uh…hyung,” Seonho scowls, staring at Seongwoo across the dining table, “can you call or text your boyfriend again? I mean, if he’s dead or escaped from Busan for some illegal stuff, at least we know by now, so that we don't have to wait for him endlessly.” 

“I guess…um…, he is still working. He is quite busy these days.” Seongwoo says dryly, “let’s just start ordering food first."

“YES. PLEASE.” Seohno exclaims with a smile, flipping the menu with a gluttonous look.

“It’s fine, Seongwoo, if he’s still working, we shall wait,” Seongwoo’s mother soothes.

“We’d better not,” Seongwoo tries to convince his mother the otherwise, “I don't want to sit here holding the table. There are people standing outside waiting for one; quite unfair to them if we do that. Also, It’s almost 8:30. Their best dishes could be sold out soon. Let’s just order.”

Seongwoo's mother can only nod reluctantly, seeing how she is the minority among the three.

_-_

It is approaching mid-night when Daniel finally gets home after a long day of work.

“Babe. I’m home.” Daniel announces right after he closes the front door of their apartment.

To his surprise, Seongwoo does not respond. Daniel can definitely hear squeaking sounds and tap water running from the kitchen, indicating that Seongwoo has to be in the kitchen, doing the dishes.

“Babe, are you here?”

As soon as Daniel finishes asking the question, he sees leftovers and one-fourth of what seems to be a birthday cake on the dining table.

Only by then does he finally remember that today is Seongwoo’s mother's birthday, and he has long promised to attend their family dinner.

Not only has he stood Seongwoo’s family up, he basically _vanished without a trace_ for the whole night, as his phone is dead.

“Shit…,” Daniel softly mutters to himself. Slowly, h e walks into the kitchen, and sees Seongwoo standing in front of the sink, scouring dishes that seem to be squeakily clean to start with.

“Babe,” He stutters, while he gazes at Seongwoo's back.  It is obvious to Daniel that his boyfriend has absolutely no intention to turn around and acknowledge his existence. 

“I…I am sorry. I was very busy and my phone was dead. I know that's not an excuse and it’s definitely on me. I'm just…terribly sorry." He knows he definitely owes Seongwoo an apology, or something even more than that, but he does not know how to start the conversation.

Seongwoo simply keeps on intensely wiping the dishes with his scouring cloth.

“When will Injustice 2 be released?” asks Seongwoo, with his eyes locked on the plate that he is holding.

“Huh?” Daniel is caught off-guard by the abrupt change of topic. 

“I am asking - the game that you pre-ordered, it’s Injustice 2, right? I am very sure this is the name, when will it be released?” 

“May 16th.”

“What about Splatoon 2?” asks Seongwoo, adding an extra pump of detergent on his cloth. 

“July 21st” replies Daniel.

  
A striking pause then ensues in the kitchen, with only squeaking sounds filling the silence. 

“See? you always remember what you want to,” Seongwoo deadpans, “and you wilfully forget what you don’t.”

“Babe you know I don't mean it that way….,” Daniel soothes, “I was in an emergency meeting with my boss. I…I…was so occupied with the meeting and I don't know that my phone was dead. I would've...”

“First, I don't care what your reason is,” Seongwoo interrupts sharply, finally turning around to look at his boyfriend, “Second, the problem exactly lies in how you DON’T EVEN REMEMBER our dinner . _You. Don't. Even. Care._ Is it _that_ hard to text or call me? I can easily cover you up by saying that you are super busy with your work, or that you are sick. It’s perfectly fine. It’s just me, my mum and Seonho anyway. But you simply pulled a no-show and let all of us wait for you aimlessly. What am I supposed to tell them?”

Daniel is speechless, knowing that he is completely wrong in this regard.

“Ever since we were together,” Seongwoo continues, piling the dishes on the drying rack at the same time, "my friends frequently ask me questions, like,  _isn’t Daniel too young for you?_   Even my mum has asked me once. And you know what do I tell them? I was like, _no, it’s true that Daniel is younger than me, but he is very mature for his age._  I was always defending for you! And look what you have done today? How ironic is that?”

Daniel can only step forward and hug Seongwoo tenderly. “I am just _super super super_ sorry, okay?”

Being wrapped under Daniel’s arms is always Seongwoo’s soft spot, it’s almost like an antidote for Seongwoo’s sassiness and anger. “Don’t say it if you don’t really mean it,” Seongwoo mumbles with a monotone, with his face buried in Daniel’s shoulder.

“I definitely mean it!” Daniel almost yells, holding Seongwoo more tightly, “I was just too occupied with what’s happening in the meeting with my boss, er, my ex-boss, to be precise. I have... just… no excuses at all, and I am truly, deeply, completely, sorry. Let’s find a day to have dinner with your mother, shall we? It’s almost Chuseok.”

“You better remember what you have just said,” Seongwoo says with a softened attitude, with his arms wrapped around his boyfriend, “why are you in a meeting with your ex-boss anyway?” 

“He has just quitted his job and found an _insanely_ better one from a rival company.”

“Then? What’s so important about it, and why does he need to hold a meeting.”

“He will be leading a department in Seoul. He was inviting Jaehwan and me to follow him and move to Seoul also.”

 

This is a sobering answer for Seongwoo. He withdraws his arm from Daniel’s back and gazes at Daniel’s eyes. To his despair, he cannot find the slightest hint of  worry on Daniel’s face, as if Daniel is perfectly content with this new job offer, one that requires him to leave his boyfriend alone in Busan.

“Oh. Wow.” Seongwoo turns around, facing the kitchen sink again, still feeling absolutely befuddled by what does Daniel's answer imply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow. can't believe you have finished reading such an abomination. Will update soon. Love you all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, will beta soon. The story progresses slower than I imagined, which means I have even more to type. I love my life.
> 
> The Haeundae beach and Gwangalli beach mentioned in this chapter are two of my favourite places in Busan. Both are equally amazing but Gwangalli is less crowded (which makes it the better one for me between the two). Make sure you pay a visit to these two places if you ever visit Busan ^^. (I guess Haeundae is in every Busan tourist's itinerary though, and, as such, my recommendation seems to be quite useless, just like my life).

The next day, Minki finds Seongwoo, Jisung and Daehwi for afternoon tea. They are supposed to talk about Minki's new (bitchy) boss, but the topic quickly shifts to Seongwoo and Daniel's conflict the day before.

“So, that’s the end of the convo? What does your _Oh wow_  even mean?” asks Jisung after taking a sip of his tea.

“I don’t know,” says Seongwoo, “I was astounded by how chill he was when he told me about his new job offer. It's like he was telling me what he had for lunch.”

“Are you sure he will take the offer and head to Seoul?” asks Daehwi, “or he is still considering the offer?”

“I share the same query,” Minki replies, adding one more teaspoon of sugar in his milk tea, “actually, do you think he is asking you to go to Seoul with him?"

“He didn't ask me,” Seongwoo shakes his head, “at least not directly. That's for sure. He simply said someone offered him to work in Seoul. Do remember we were in a post-conflict scenario when he said this, which makes it less likely that he was saying this as an intro of an invitation.”

“That’s a weirdly in-depth and critical analysis,” Jisung drawls out (and Seongwoo gives him the classic death stare), “okay, let’s just say... he really takes off to Seoul, what are you gonna do?”

“I can’t tag along, can I?” Seongwoo replies coldly, stirring his tea with a teaspoon, “we are not married, nor can we as of now in Korea, sadly.”

“You don’t need to get married to _tag along_. In fact, you shouldn't describe this as _tag along_. If you want to move to Seoul with him, I simply can’t see why can’t you do that. You work at _Innisfree_ for god’s sake. There are literally tons of them in Seoul, especially in Myeong-dong. How hard is it for you to find a job there? And you are a good sales assistant,” says Jisung, “take this from your colleague,” pointing a finger at himself.

  
“We are talking like he has asked me to go with him already,” Seongwoo replies dryly, “also, you do know what the junior staff calls us behind our backs, right? Apparently we are the “ _cancer_ ”, the “ _loafers_ ”, the “ _sloths_ ”, of our store. Anyway, I don't want to talk about it. Moving on, can someone talk about something more cheerful? 

“Oh, about our beach party, Jonghyun said he can join us next Sunday,” says Minki.

“That’s nice! Almost forgot it’s coming soon. We are going to _Haeundae_ right?” asks Daehwi. 

“Thought we are going to _Gwangalli_?” wonders Minki, “ _Haeundae_ is too crowded, especially with tourists. Daniel will come too, right?”

“He said he would,” Seongwoo answers hesitantly, “but that was two weeks ago. He has probably forgotten about it. I’ll confirm with you later tonight.”

* * *

 

Exactly as Seongwoo expects, Daniel completely forgets the said beach party.

“I have to work on that day.”

“Not that I’m surprised.” Seongwoo hisses.

“It’s not like I want to work on a Sunday either, babe. We will be shooting the ad on that day. That’s the only day that all involving parties are available.”

Seongwoo is disappointed by this answer. What bothers him is not Daniel’s frequent absence from these gatherings that he promised to attend, but how Daniel never takes the initiative to tell him about any clashes of his schedule  _unless and until_ Seongwoo asks him. This is what makes him feel like Daniel does not even care. To him, Daniel’s answer indicates that he does not understand the crux of the problem at all.

Still, Seongwoo does not want to repeat what he said yesterday in the kitchen, fearing that they will pick up at where the conversation has ended (i.e. Daniel’s new job offer), a topic he is not ready to face yet.

“Whatever…I’ll just tell Jisung about this. It’s…fine. Not like I want other strangers on the beach to drool and stare at your abs. I’ll reserve that exclusively for myself that night,” says Seongwoo with a suggestive smile, “why shooting on a Sunday though? That’s…weird.”

Daniel chuckles, “it’s an ad for sunscreen. Sunday is the only day that’s totally sunny this week.”

“Oh. So you are not doing the shoot in a studio?”

“Yeah. in _Haeundae_ , actually,” Daniel trots to the kitchen in order to grab some snacks.

“You mean, the beach?”

“Yeah, wait,” Daniel skids to an abrupt stop and turns to look at Seongwoo, plotting (what he thinks) a win-win situation.

-

 

Sunday.

“Tell me again why are we on this abso-fucking-lutely crowded beach instead of that _Gwangalli_ beach we agreed on?” asks Jisung, with a frustrated expression.

“Daniel said he wanted to join us but his team is shooting an ad here,” replies Seongwoo, pointing towards the other side of the beach where the filming crew is located, “if we hold our party here he can join us right after the shooting wraps. I don’t know it is _that_ crowded. Sorry.”

“Yeah. It’s so packed here I feel like I can only smell body odour and oily sunscreen. There’s no room for an apple to fall,” says Daehwi, “will he ever come by though? It’s been three hours.”

“Speaking of the devil,” Minki eyes at Daniel who is walking towards the gang.

  
“Hey,” greets Daniel, looking exhausted.

Seongwoo turns around and takes a quick glance of his boyfriend before handing him a bottle of water. “Finished filming?” asks Seongwoo.

“Not really. Our team is taking a break. The model is doing retouches for her make up,” answers Daniel, “she is so slow in remembering the lines. By the way, do you have coke?”

Seongwoo points at the tote bag next to him. Daniel kneels down and reaches the bag, taking the whole 6-pack with him as he prepares to leave.

“You have to go already? And why would you need all 6 cans?” asks Seongwoo.

“Oh. I’m taking them to the client. I….I’ll be right back.”

Everyone goes silent as they see Daniel stride towards the other side of the beach. Seongwoo is annoyed as he sees his boyfriend distribute the soft drinks to what seem to be the representatives from the client company, and he cannot pinpoint why.

-

 

Daniel is bewildered to see Seongwoo on the side of the beach where his filming crew stationed.

“Hey,” Seongwoo mutters softly.

“Hey…” 

“You know…it’s actually perfectly okay if you have to work. You can’t appear in two places at the same time anyway. Now I feel like this arrangement satisfies nobody.” 

“Why? At least I get to see you guys during the break, right?”

“But…but they wanted to go to _Gwangalli_. My friends and I agreed to go there. I made them switch our venue only because of you, do you get it?”

“ _Haeundae_ and _Gwangalli_  are the same, aren't they? They both are beaches.” Daniel wonders, "I can’t help it when the client has to re-schedule the whole thing. It’s my _job_."

“I...I...I know that work is extremely important, but, this is supposedly our quality time together. I brought those cans of Coca-cola from home for you, and for my friends, but not your client. Do you get it? I don't know how to phrase it nicely, but I am not coming here to serve your client.”

“I do I do I do,” Daniel sneers, “I’ll _serve_ you after I serve the client, okay?”

“No,” Seongwoo grimaces, “that’s not what I meant…I…”.

“Then what do you want?” Daniel interrupts with a gruff tone, “if I don't want to spend time with you, I won't even suggest changing the venue. I am also trying my best to compromise. Can you at least appreciate my effort?"

 

Seongwoo is quiet, turning his head to his right with a frown to tear away from Daniel’s gaze.

"So now what?" asks Daniel, "I am the one who should be blamed? Simply because I am trying my best to handle work and life at the same time? It's my _job_. Don't we have bills to pay? rent? What else can I do?"

 

“Look," utters Seongwoo, as he places his hand between them with his palm facing out, "I don't want to argue." He turns around and staggers to the other side of the beach in order to reunite with his friends.

Daniel is unsure of what to do. He struggles if he should give his boyfriend (and himself) some time to cool down or he should chase after him, but he is soon forced to choose the former when the cameraman finds him to discuss matters regarding the shoot.

-

 

The shoot takes way longer than Daniel expected and he eventually gets home late at night. Surprisingly, Seongwoo is not there.

Daniel nips over to the dining table and sees a memo, obviously by Seongwoo.

 

“ _I'm moving back to Mum’s._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will update soon. I really hope some other main characters will finally appear in the following next chapter so that my character tags make sense.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought this would be an important chapter but now I think this is more like a bridge. You are warned.  
> Once again, I will beta soon. I really will.

It’s been a week since Seongwoo has stayed at his mother’s home.

 

The alarm clock in Seongwoo’s room goes off, indicating it is 8:30 in the morning. Slowly and reluctantly, Seongwoo stretches his arms above his head and gives out a lethargic yawn. He has no energy at all to get up and face another new day, even though he knows he should leave his room in 5 minutes or he will be late for work.

The screen of his mobile phone next to him suddenly turns bright, displaying that he now has 20 unread messages from **Daniel**. Almost immediately, Seongwoo flips his phone back-side up and rolls himself to face the other side of the bed, ignoring the text. He knows that most of the notifications from his phone come from Daniel anyway and he is not ready to talk to him yet. Almost every conversation they had during the final week they lived together came to an unpleasant end. He is fed up with Daniel’s attitude, behaviour, _everything_.

Seongwoo lies in the same position for a while, until he turns around to reach his phone again and calls Jisung.

“Bitch, can you help me call in sick today?” Seongwoo lazily mutters to his phone, “yeah. Thanks. Love you.”

 

-

Daniel has been relentlessly calling and texting Seongwoo for more than 2 weeks to no responses at all. Out of options (and his excruciating desperation to talk with Seongwoo), he decides to crash Seongwoo’s mother’s apartment after work.

Having said that, he is now wandering in front of the apartment entrance, feeling completely unconfident to press the doorbell. He thought he could hardly wait to see Seongwoo again (and apologise to him, if things go well), but now he is not sure what should he say if he _really_ sees him. He reaches out for the doorbell, but he cannot make up his mind if he should press it. 

To his astonishment, the door opens before he makes the decision.

“What the fuck are you doing here, you jerk?” fumes Seonho.

“Seonho,” Daniel goggles at him in disbelief, “How…how do you know I’m here?”

“We can see you through the security camera,” Seonho bluntly explains, pointing towards the said security camera right next to the doorbell, “you have been loitering around like a serial rapist.”

“I…I am here to find Seongwoo,” says Daniel.

“Duh! Who else will you be looking for? He is not here,” Seonho rolls his eyes, “bye.”

“Wait, do you know where he is now?” Daniel softly asks, “Or when will he be back?”

“Why don’t you ask Seongwoo himself?” Seonho retorts coldly, “if he does not want you to know his whereabouts, why should I act as a betrayer of my kin and reveal such valuable information?”

Daniel is silent, having absolutely no idea how to deal with a hostile and uncooperative teenager, let alone one with as much sass as Seongwoo. Originally, he wants to ask if he can enter the apartment and wait for Seongwoo until he gets home, but Seonho’s attitude clearly indicates that he is not welcomed.

 

He is ready to boldly raise his requests when a boy suddenly appears behind Seonho and affectionately says, “Seonho-ah, the noodles are ready.”

Daniel swears he is impressed by Seonho's instantaneous change from a frown to a warm smile.

“Hello. You are?” asks the boy, gaping at Daniel, as he places his head on Seonho’s shoulder and lays his arms entwined with Seonho’s.

“Let me introduce,” Seonho sweetly says, “Daniel, this is Guanlin, my…”

Seonho’s voice gradually diminishes in volume as the sentence goes, as he realises he does not know how to properly label his current relationship with Guanlin.

Guanlin turns his head to look at Seonho and notices Seonho’s hesitation. He reaches Seonho’ hand, holding it with interlocking fingers and mutters, “boyfriend,” gazing directly at Seonho’s eyes.

Seonho cannot help but grins like the Cheshire Cat, almost bursting into a boisterous laugh, but he quickly reverts to a straight face when he remembers _that jerk Daniel_ is standing in front of him.

“Yes, my…my _boyfriend_ ,” Seonho stutters.

“Aren’t you a bit too young to have a boyfriend?” Daniel wonders.

“Maturity does not come with age. You are the best example,” Seonho coldly answers, “and Guanlin, this is Daniel, a jerk, and also my step-brother’s…”

Seonho’s voice diminishes again, for the exact reason. He is clueless of how should he label Daniel and Seongwoo’s current relationship. After a short while, Seonho blurts out, “on-and-off boyfriend, currently _off_.”

Before Daniel can raise his voice and protest, another voice appears behind Seonho’s back, “Seonho-ah, who’s at the door?” Seonho and Guailin quickly retract their interlocking hands and turn around.

 

It's Seonho and Seungwoo's mother. 

“Oh! Daniel,” she says as she walks to the door, “Sorry, I was blow-drying my hair in the washroom with the door closed. I thought Seonho was just talking to the deliveryman.”

“Hi. Mrs. Yoo,” Daniel greets with a diplomatic grin, taking out what seems be a gift from his bag and handing it to Seonho’s mother, “Happy belated birthday, sorry about last time.”

“You are more than a month late, is this supposed to be a pre-gift for next year?” Seonho jeers.

Seonho’s mother stares at Seonho to hush him before she smiles and contentedly receives the gift with both hands, “Thank you, are you here for Seungwoo? He is out with Jisung in Seomyeon.”

Silence then fills the room, as Daniel tries hard to come up with something to continue the chat.

“I will tell Seongwoo that you have come by,” Mrs. Yoo acknowlegdes with a soothing smile, “I am sure he will find you when he is ready to. You know, communication is the most effective when both sides are prepared.”

 

Daniel hesitantly nods his head, clearly understanding what Seongwoo’s mother is implying with her last sentence.

He wants to tell Seongwoo’s mother (and Seongwoo) that he may not have the time to “wait” until Seongwoo is _prepared,_ as he has just officially accepted the new job offer in Seoul this morning. Yet, he has no idea how to work this into the conversation without further complicating the situation.

 

“Thank you Mrs. Yoo. I…I guess I should go, good night.”

 

-

 

Two weeks pass by.

Seungwoo is going to have lunch alone near the store he works at, thinking if he should turn left for Starbucks or turn right for Issac Toast. Jisung has called in sick after partying so hard the night before. He is not interested in eating with other junior staff members who call him “the loafer” behind his back either. 

Before he can make a firm decision, his phone rings. Seongwoo takes out his phone from his pocket and gazes at the caller’s name, inhaling deeply before he chooses to answer the call. 

 It's Daniel.

“Hello?”

“It’s…It’s me,” mutters Daniel.

“Yes,” Seongwoo says calmly, “I know.”

He is prepared for the worst for the reason behind Daniel’s call. Ever since the day his mother told him that Daniel paid a visit during the time he was out, Seongwoo has not received any texts and phone calls from Daniel, nor has he ever heard Daniel’s voice after the tragic beach party. Deep down, he is very emotional to hear from Daniel again, but he chooses to act calm, fearing that the conversation will be sidetracked and turn awkward.

“I…I’m leaving to Seoul, today, with Jaehwan,” Daniel drawls out.

 

Just as Seongwoo expects.

 

“Oh, congrats,” quavers Seongwoo, as he can feel tears forming around the corner of his eyes, “um...”

Both sides are silent for a while, with only background noises passing through the line.

“Seoul can be much colder than Busan during winter. Make…make sure you get yourself more coats,” Seongwoo is trying his best to hide his weep from Daniel, but he knows he is failing very miserably, “it…it can be much less humid too, cause…cause it is not close to the sea, unlike Busan, you know. Drink more water.”

“Yeah, I will, um…” Daniel can feel he is about to choke also.

There goes another uncomfortable silence between the two.

“I…I have packed your things in our home. Just…just pick them up when you are free,” says Daniel, “I’m still paying the rent. If you want to stay there…”

“I will stay at Mum’s,” mutters Seongwoo, starting to regain control of his weep, “I…I can’t talk now. It’s almost my turn to order at Starbucks. Yeah.”

In reality, Seongwoo is not even remotely close to the Starbucks he is heading to, let alone the queue. He simply dreads to linger on this conversation, even though he paradoxically wants to listen to Daniel’s voice for a longer while.

“Right, um, I’m arriving at the airport too, bye.”

 

“…bye.”

  

* * *

 

The seat in the economy class is as uncomfortable as Daniel expects.

“Hey…” Jaehwan nudges Daniel across the aisle.

“What?” Daniel responds with noticeable annoyance.

“How old are you actually?” asks Jaehwan.

“22, if you mean my Korean age,” answers Daniel, “why do you need know this in this particular moment? Can you do the math by yourself? You know when I was born.”

“I am just calculating how many years you still have, before our snobby society thinks you should be in business class or first class for a trip financed by your employer like this one.”

“Oh _YOU_ tell me, wow,” Daniel rolls his eyes, “they reserved business class for us, and you fucking idiot insisted choosing the economy. Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“I heard that this airline hires a lot of good-looking people,” says Jaehwan with a smirk.

“Then? They will look equally good in business class,” retorts Daniel, “where is your logic?”

“No, where is _your_ logic?” asks Jaehwan, “will you let the young and inexperienced ones serve those in the esteemed business class? Of course not. They have to work in the economy class and gain some experience first. We have to sit here for the cute and youthful ones.”

“Not _we_ , but just _you_. I don’t mean to stereotype anything, but statistically most flights attendants are girls, and I don’t swing that way,” Daniel counters, “you are sacrificing my opportunity to be looked up to by this snobby society, simply for the sake of your own aesthetic pleasures when you already have a larger pool, cause you swing both ways, and you already have a boyfriend waiting for you in Busan.”

“Bruh, your mindset is so 1900s,” Jaehwan jests, turning around and bobbing his head at the male flight attendant behind them, just to signal Daniel to have a look, “you would definitely tap that.”

“ _Shhhhh_!” Daniel shushes as he fears that the said flight attendant and the passengers nearby may hear their (borderline perverted) conversation, “I’m telling this to Sewoon.”

“Sorry, he is the one who suggested choosing the economy class,” Jaehwan responds with a victorious smirk, “we like gawking at good-looking people together, that’s how our relationship works.”

“Okay, too much information. Then why do you have to pick seats that separate us by an aisle?” asks Daniel, “don’t tell me this has to do with Sewoon also.”

“Well, Sewoon said if we sit right next to each other, there is a direct contrast and the flight attendants will only focus on you and your handsome face but not me. Now they won't, which in turn increases my chance of having thunderbolt-shooting eye contacts with them.”

“You two sound like a bored couple looking for someone for a threesome. It’s 2017, use Grindr for this.”

“If we are, we would’ve invited you first,” Jaehwan quickly replies, “Sewoon thinks you are super hot.”

Daniel does not want to dwell on this topic, he crosses his arms and sits up straight, ignoring Jaehwan’s laughters.

 

“Would you like something to drink, sir?” The said male flight attendant from behind finally reaches Daniel’s row, “we ran out of apple juice. Other than that, everything is available.”

“Orange juice will do,” answers Daniel, without looking at the attendant.

“Same,” says the passenger on the window seat next to Daniel.

The flight attendant is about to hand the cups filled with orange juice to the two, when a short turbulence suddenly strikes. Both cups slipped from his hands and fell on the window-seat passenger next to Daniel.

“WHAT THE FUCK!” rages the passenger.

“Sorry!” The attendant gulps. He quickly searches the cart and hands the passenger a pile of paper tissue.

The passenger furiously dabs his T-shirt with paper tissue until he sees a puddle of orange juice on the keyboard of his laptop. Right after, he stands up and drags the attendant into him by his collar, “IT'S ON MY MACBOOK YOU FUCKER!”

Seeing the situation is spiralling out of control, Daniel, who is sandwiched between the two, stands up at an instant from his seat and firmly grips the wrist of the passenger, whose hand is still holding the collar of the attendant.

“You don't have to shout. It’s an unexpected turbulence, he can do nothing about it,” Daniel interjects, glaring directly at the passenger’s eyes.

Another passenger sitting behind Daniel also stands up, “dude, it’s not his fault. Let him go.”

The cabin is abuzz with murmurs. The livid passenger bitterly releases his hand on the flight attendant and sits down, as he is mildly embarrassed to see that almost everyone is eyeing at the drama displeasedly.

“I will not let this fucking slide, get your ass ready for a complaint,” the passenger fumes as he glowers at the air host.

With an apologetic expression, the flight attendant mutters "sorry" and bows once again before he leaves with his cart. Daniel then turns right to look at Jaehwan, who is looking at Daniel’s trousers.

 

Only by then does Daniel see what seems to be stains of orange juice near his crotch.

“You can’t feel it?” wonders Jaehwan.

“Nah,” replies Daniel. He was too absorbed into the drama that unfolded right in front of him, but he cannot explain it out loud when the main character of the drama is still sitting right next to him with a clenched jaw, “Don’t talk to me. I want to sleep.”

 

-

 

The flight arrives at Seoul on schedule.

Daniel and Jaehwan are standing at the baggage reclaim area waiting for their luggage to appear on the carousel.

 

“That guy next to you is seriously rude as fuck, not just because of what he said and what he did. I suppose the air host is handing tissues to both of you, but he simply grabs it all,” says Jaehwan, “and, by the way, what you did was quite heart-fluttering. But won't you be scared that he may not back down and punch your face instead?”

“Won’t you do the same?” asks Daniel.

“Maybe,” replies Jaehwan,”cause that air host is cute.”

“ _Cause the air host is cute_?" Daniel reiterates with a questioning tone, "Shouldn't it be like _he really needs help at that time_? Or like...”

Before Daniel can finish his sentence, he can feel a shoulder tap from his right. He turns around and is surprised to see it is the flight attendant.

“Good afternoon,” the attendant politely greets.

“Hi.”

“Thank you for your help just then. I…I don’t mean to bother you but, um…, since it is quite likely that the passenger next to you will lodge a complaint regarding what just happened. Our company may need you as an eye-witness later, can you leave me your phone number?” asks the flight attendant, as he hands Daniel his phone.

“Sure!” Daniel nods and inputs his phone number.

“How should I save your name?”

“Kang Euigeon!” Jaehwan blurts out.

“Sorry?”

“It’s Kang Daniel. Sorry for his behaviour, my friend is high on drugs,” Daniel retorts, as he hands the phone back to the attendant.

“Don’t joke about this right before we pass the customs you motherfucker. Let me go grab our luggage,” says Jaehwan as he walks near the baggage carousel.

“Daniel, right?” asks the attendant, “let me call you and you will have my number.”

Daniel can feel the vibration from his phone right after the attendant finishes his sentence.  “My turn, your name is?” asks Daniel as he holds his phone with both hands.  


“Oh, it’s Park Jihoon,” shyly says the attendant as he holds his name tag on his uniform, averting Daniel's gaze.

“Done,” Daniel affirms with a smile after a few taps on his mobile.

“Thank you so much for today,” Jihoon bows again. “I have to go now or I’ll miss my shuttle. Bye!” Jihoon waves goodbye with Daniel as he leaves and walks to the exit.

 

After making sure that Jihoon is left, Jaehwan wiggles his eyebrows and stares at Daniel with a wry smile, “ _See_? I told you that you will tap that. I am impressed as fuck, you managed to get his number before we leave the airport. I can tell you two have already hit it off.”

Daniel rolls his eyes yet again and replies, “I can tell you really should shut the fuck up.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I really want to thank and reply to all comments, (not like I receive a lot, but still). I do read them and they motivate me to update. It's just I am so bad at saying nice things. Please forgive me. When I type something nice and then read it in my mind, I can't help but feel like I'm being unintentionally sarcastic.
> 
> 2\. I ship Guanlin and Seonho but I guess they won't be major characters in this fic. Hopefully I can write one about these two in this universe after I finish this one. That will be like when I'm 90, fingers crossed.
> 
> 3\. I guess my first 2 chapters are more angsty than I expected HAHAHA. I will still classify this as a comedy or a slice-of-life. I guess my classification will make more sense as the fic progresses. The more I read the comments the more I'm not sure if this fic will go in the way that people want. I hope I won't disappoint anyone else like how I disappoint my life. Love you all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I proofread my last chapter (and all others) last night and made some edits. Feel free to take a look again. Edits mostly concern grammar and conversations between the characters in chapter 3 because some of them sound kinda unnatural to me when I read them the second time.

Move-in is always an inevitable nuisance. 

Worse still, the apartment that Jaehwan and Daniel share in Seoul is significantly smaller than Daniel has once imagined. He has long known that Seoul’s property prices are sky-high compared to that of Busan’s, but he never fully experiences how exorbitant it is until now.

“We might be able rent a chateau somewhere in the rural area with the amount we are paying,” rants Jaehwan, “I feel like a hamster in a cage.”

Daniels hums in agreement, while he tears the adhesive tape on the large paper boxes closest to him.It’s the 4th day he has arrived in Seoul, but he has not fully unpacked yet. Bringing with him a lot of items from his home in Busan that cannot be regarded as necessities by all reasonable standards now seems to be an unwise decision.

He opens the paper box and, to his surprise, finds a cushion, with the Disney characters Chip and Dale printed on it. 

“What is this?” Jaehwan chimes in when he sees Daniel holding the said cushion in his hand, “I never know you like Disney characters.”

Daniel does not respond but stares at the cushion, letting it take him to a stroll down memory lane.

 

-

 

**< 1 year ago>**

 

Daniel and Seongwoo are lounging next to each other on the sofa. While Daniel looks relaxed with a bowl of ice cream on his hands, Seongwoo is the exact opposite of it.

“So…So…what happened to the couple in the diner?” Seongwoo shivers, covering his face with the Chip and Dale cushion. The horror film playing on TV is too terrifying to be watched with his own eyes, but he also wants to find out what happens next (cause Daniel tricked him into watching the non-scary part at the beginning goddamnit). 

“They are now outside in the parking lot,” Daniel gigges after he puts another spoon of ice cream into his mouth, with his eyes locked onto the TV screen. 

“And then? What happens outside?” Seongwoo follows. He hides both his face and his cushion behind Daniel’s back, freeing his hands in case he needs to cover his ears when the film score becomes too disturbing, “Oh god, why is the wife screaming?” 

“Cause she sees the corpses of all other people on the floor,” Daniel responds with the same giggly tone after licking the ice cream off his spoon. 

“What?" Seongwoo remains in the same position. "What about the puppies the restaurant owner kept?”

“They are all dead too, right next to the dead owner,” Daniel cackles. 

“And then?” 

“The couple is walking near the corpses,” Daniel responds eerily joyfully.

“And then?”

“There is a nauseating odour of the dead,” Daniel slowly drawls out with a smirk.

“What?” Seongwoo does not get it.

  
_Brrrrrapppppp.  
_

 

“FUCK YOU KANG DANIEL I’M RIGHT BEHIND YOU! HOW DARE YOU FART?” Seongwoo immediately jumps up and stands on the sofa, fervently fanning the air with the cushionm, while Daniel releases a rambunctious laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA," Daniel almost rolls on the sofa, “don’t you know? this is the new feature from this TV station, 4D movie _with smell_.”  

“DID YOU EAT SHIT FOR DINNER YOU BASTARD? YOUR FART SMELLS SO FUCKING VILE!” shouts Seongwoo, as he continue to fan the air.

Seongwoo is about to yell at Daniel again for his mischievous behaviour, when he hears screams along with suspenseful music from the film again. He quickly nips over to Daniel and restores himself to the original position, burying his head behind Daniel’s back. 

“Babe, it’s supposed to be a horror-comedy,” Daniel asks with a beam from ear to ear, “why are you so scared?”

“I don’t care. Turn it off. I hate you.”

 

After Daniel reaches the remote and switches to the news channel, he prances to the kitchen in order to look for more snacks. “Oh, babe, do you want some fried fish cakes?” Daniel asks Seongwoo across the apartment, “I bought them on my way home this afternoon.”

 

-

 

“On second thought,” says Seungwoo after he takes a nibble of the fried fish cake, “you shouldn’t be eating so much oily fried food, but more vegetables. Your fart really stinks.”

“Does your shit smell like lavender?” Daniel retorts, “We share the same bathroom, and I know it is far from it.”

“But I don’t fart literally  _at_  your face,” refutes Seongwoo as he gives Daniel the classic stare, “and not at your cushion. You can keep the cushion now, better keep it near your pillow so that you can smell how shitty your fart is when you sleep. Bastard. That Chip and Dale cushion is my favourite and you contaminated it, forever.”

“Oh, I want to ask this for a long time,” replies Daniel, “what’s your fixation with Chip and Dale products?”

“Don’t you think they kinda look like us?” Seongwoo answers endearingly, “you know, they live together, and you look like Chip with your two cute centered protruding teeth when you smile.”

“Then what’s your resemblance with, uh, what’s his name, Dale?" 

“Dale has a bigger nose, and you do know what people say about people with bigger noses,” Seongwoo answers as he wiggles his eyebrows.

Daniel rolls his eyes, before he throws the Chip and Dale cushion to Seongwoo, “now you are the one doing the contamination. Don’t ruin Disney characters for me, even though I’m not as much of a Disney fan as you.”

“Don’t throw your fart at me,” yells Seongwoo and he takes a sniff off the cushion, “ugh, I feel like I can still smell it. Now my time to question you, what’s your fixation with fried fish cakes? It’s junk food.” 

“Come on, don't we eat a lot of these kinds of street snacks when we are younger,” replies Daniel, as he gobbles the last bite of the fish cake. 

“No. Unlike you, my cultured soul does not have an appetite for garbage when I was younger,” Seongwoo jokingly counters.

 

Daniel turns his head and glares at Seongwoo,

 

“ _an appetite for garbage?_ Kiddo, the correct vocabulary you are looking for is an appetite for _finer things in life_ , like fried fish cakes, honey butter chips, and handsome boys. I was a true connoisseur of good-looking guys,” Daniel comically boasts.

"Give me a break from all your bullshit,” Seongwoo mimicks Daniel’s classic eye roll.

“It’s true. I’ll show you pictures,” Daniel playfully continues his bluff, “what about you? Did you keep photos of your ex?” 

Seongwoo pauses for a moment, deliberately turning his head to stare at the television instead of Daniel.

“I promised my first boyfriend not to keep any pictures,” answers Seongwoo with a knowing smile.

“The fuck? What’s the problem with taking photos?”

“I promised Jinyoung I wouldn’t tell anyone about our relationship,” continues Seongwoo, as he turns his head back to look at Daniel’s reaction, “I don’t want to affect his career as an _idol_.”

Daniel squints at Seongwoo with curiosity, “ _Jinyoung?_ As in Jung Jinyoung, the one from B1A4?”

“You didn’t hear it from me,” Seongwoo turns his head to stare at the television again, avoiding Daniel’s glare, “I mean, there are so many Jinyoungs in the entertainment industry already, right? You are just too smart to be able to guess it.”

Daniel almost chokes by the fish cake in his mouth because of how ridiculous the story sounds. "Unbelievable, as in I really don't believe it. This bluff is too much, why don’t you go for an extra mile and say you have once hooked up with Ji Changwook and Park Bogum?” 

“When I was in high school, B1A4 has just debuted, and they came to my school to shoot something. I was rushing along a long corridor to my classroom, cause I was almost late, and then I literally bumped into him and fell onto the floor when he suddenly appeared in front of me from a turn,” Seongwoo calmly explains, “he immediately held me up, and gave me his phone number in case I need any medical attention. He said he will be responsible for the cost. That’s how we met and started.”

Daniel rolls his eyes and says, “now  _you_  give me a break from all your bullshit.”

“He was a very romantic person, you know, he even used to write poems for me," Seongwoo completely ignores Daniel's obvious skepticism, "There’s one that I still remember so distinctly. He sent it to me when we were about to broke up. The poem goes like this:  _When I walk past the cafe we used to go to together, I occasionally think of you, say hello to you. We pretend not to know each other, looking elsewhere, we walk different…_ ”

“ _♫_ _♫_ … _paths in this space that we don’t understand. Under the same sky, at the same time, at the same place_ … _♫_ _♫_ ” Daniel interrupts with a singing voice. 

Daniel cannot stop himself from laughing at how fake the story goes, “you are like fangirl crazy, Ong Seongwoo, this is a song he wrote for a reality show last year. My job is busy, but I’m not disengaged from the society.

“He really WROTE that!” Seongwoo insists, even though he also finds himself laughing boisterously, “he really did!”

“Stop this. If you were Pinnochio, you wouldn’t need a nose job, not like you need it now with your sharp features, but you get what i mean.”

“No, he really really WROTE me this!”

 

* * *

 

A shoulder tap from Jaehwan brings Daniel back to the reality.

“Hey,” starts Jaehwan, “we ran out of plastic bags. I emptied one of my paper boxes as a temporary one for now, okay? It’s the one by the front door.”

Daniel nods his head. He carries several pieces of trash and the Chip and Dale cushion with him to the said paper box, standing by it with apparent hesitation.

"Why are you standing there staring at the box for trash?" asks Jaehwan.

"I'm just struggling if I should really throw everything on my hands away," replies Daniel, even though he knows he is just mentally battling over _one of the items_.

"Mmm..."

With a short sigh, Daniel holds the cushion with his arm and throws other pieces of trash into the box. After a sniff, he then returns to his room and places the Chip and Dale cushion next to his pillow. Just as he is about to remove the adhesive tape on another paper box, he can feel his phone vibrate.

 

It’s a text from Jihoon.

 

 ** Park Jihoon:  
** _ Daniel-shi! my misconduct complaint was cleared with your testimony :D I defo have to repay you :DDDDDD _

 

Daniel is glad to hear that he is of assistance, but he is weirded out by how Jihoon abbreviates "definitely" to "defo". He is contemplating if he should follow Jihoon's texting style just to make himself look more friendly and amicable.

 

 ** Kang Daniel:  
** _ dun mention it, I think every1 will offer help at tht moment. _

 

Daniel mentally curses at himself for how bad he is at imitating Jihoon's style.  
And he literally curses " _FUCK!_ " when he reads what Jihoon replies to him.

 

 ** Park Jihoon:  
** _ What about I repay you in bed? ;)))))))) _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. The fried fish cake mentioned above is actually 오뗑. It can be cooked in a lot of ways if I remember correctly. I am not sure how should I translate this into English except "fish cake". If there is a better phrase for it I will replace fish cake with it.
> 
> 2.The song mentioned at the end of Seongwoo and Daniel's banter in the flashback is "In The Same Place", sung by several contestants in the 1st season of Produce 101 and produced by Jinyoung from B1A4. In case you have not listened to it, please do! It's a nice song.
> 
> 3\. Similar to what I want to express in the headnote, I find it quite hard to construct "natural"-sounding conversations and I often have to proofread a few times what I have written before I am satisfied with the flow. Forgive me if you see changes when you re-read them. I weirdly find it easier to edit and proofread a chapter after I posted it. Will update soon.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of update. Will beta soon :)

For the rest of his life, Daniel will deny that it is slightly disappointing to find out the _Bed_ to which Jihoon’s text refers is actually a _bar_ in Seoul.  

“So the name of the bar is _Bed_?” asks Jaehwan, lying on the sofa with his laptop as he is getting ready to Skype with Sewoon.

“Yeah, apparently it’s a new fancy trend where they replace bar tables and stools with beds so that people can feel like home and chillax,” explains Daniel, as he trots to the front door to put on his shoes, “google it.” 

“He has to be interested in you,” Jeahwan asserts, “or he won’t phrase it in this cheeky and misleading way.”

“With my pink hair, he probably thinks I’m a very hip person who is ultra-aware of the latest trends in Seoul,” Daniel counters, bending down to tie the shoelaces, “don’t overthink too much." 

“Sure, bruh, your explanation is not shadowy at all,” Jaehwan responds sarcastically with a big wheeze, “anyway, you will need this.”

He approaches Daniel and slips what appears to be a tiny packet into the back pocket of Daniel’s trousers.

“What _is_ this?” Daniel stands up straight and puts his hand into the back pocket, turning his head to look at Jaehwan with confusion as he sees Jaehwan staring at him with a smirk.

Almost immediately, he figures out what Jaehwan has just given to him without taking it out from the pocket, and his face changes to one filled with grimace.

 

“ _Kim Jaehwan_ ,” Daniel irks, “can you get your mind out of the gutter?”

“Better _safe_ than sorry,” replies Jawhwan, “both Sewoon and I were very glad that I brought this with me on our first date.”

“Gees, too much information,” says Daniel, as he opens the front door of their apartment, “bye.”

* * *

 

 

Daniel does not know why he needs to take a deep breath before he steps into _Bed_.  

As he expects (because he googled it), the place does look cozy, with dim lights and beds sparsely located around the corners of the room. A few other customers are lounging on beds with drinks or shisha pipes in their hands as their conversations compete with the live band and swirl in a puff of smoke. 

“Hey!” Jihoon waves his hand when he sees Daniel enter the bar, with another hand holding a glass of white wine.

“Hi,” Daniel greets as he senses an inexplicable feeling of anxiety under his skin. 

“Quite nice right? They got the idea from Prague,” utters Jihoon, with his gaze completely converges on Daniel’s eyes.

Only when their eyes meet does Daniel suddenly realise that the last time he felt  _this_ nervous was exactly on his first date with Seongwoo.  A strong sense of unease is always the norm for him on first dates, but he simply forgets how it usually feels when the preivous one took place more than 2 years ago. 

“Yeah, it’s not bad here,” Daniel responds anxiously, as he crawls onto the bed they share, feeling slightly guilty about how Seongwoo pops up in his mind at this moment. 

“ _Not bad_? Your answer should be it’s _cool as fuck here_ ,” Jihoon jokingly replies, “beer?”

 

Chugging two bottles of bear makes Daniel feel weirdly at ease. To him, Jihoon seems to be equally relaxed. Both are now slothfully lounging on the bed, with their shoulders touching each other, enjoying the live band on the opposite side of the bar.

“Oh! I almost forget,” Jihoon exclaims, as he suddenly sits up straight and takes out a camera, holding it in front of his face.

“Is this an old-school one that still uses film?” Daniel is caught off-guard by the gadget facing him.

Jihoon offers no verbal answers. Instead, he presses the shutter without any countdown or warning. A blinding flash then engulfs Daniel’s face for a second.

“Oh god, this is super bright,” says Daniel, “you never fail to surprise me. Very few people are into this now.”

“But i like it. I record my life with these,” Jihoon explains, “digital ones are too perfect for me. Imperfections make things more…real.”

“Then you are not too real,” Daniel remarks with his gaze at Jihoon.

For a while, Jihoon simply reciprocates the gaze that Daniel gives with a knowing smile.

“My sister always warns me that boys with silver tongues are not to be trusted,” Jihoon denotes, as he lies down again with his eyes continue to be fixated on Daniel.

“There are exceptions to every rule,” replies Daniel, mentally cursing at himself for how _lame_ this response is. He will shamelessly blame it on the alcohol later when Jaehwan askshim how does the night go.

 

To his surprise, Jihoon seems to be pleased with this answer. He giggles and asks, “why are you here in Seoul?”

“For work.”

“I know, but why Seoul?”, Jihoon replies as he leans closer.

“Umm…well…I work in advertising. People in this industry have to be _forward-thinking_ , and accurately estimate how people react to things and what is about to happen. We just…have to plan one step ahead. Seoul is the largest business hub in Korea and that’s where you find greater opportunities.”

Jihoon nods his head trying to digest what Daniel has just said. In fact, Daniel knows thoroughly that his answer is just complete _job-interview-bullshit,_ but he needs to blabber something to get pass this question.

“You want more beer?” asks Daniel, digressing from the topic in order to fill the silence, to which Jihoon once again nods.

As Daniel sits up straight and raises his hand in order to get a waiter to take the order, Jihoon notices something slips out of Daniel’s back pocket. He reaches over and holds the small packet in his hands for a closer look.

 

“Two bottles of Corona, thank you.”

 

Daniel lies down on their bed again after his order. To his utter horror, he sees Jihoon lock his gaze on a condom wrapper in his own hand. Immediately, he tries to feel the back pocket of his trousers.

With that, he realises the worst possible scenario of a shitty first date has just come to reality. 

“Uh…,” Daniel gapes at Jihoon with his mouth open, feeling his posture uncontrollably stiffens and unsure of how should he even _start_ to explain.

“You are…definitely… _forward-thinking_ , huh?” Jihoon drawls out with a smirk on his face, as he flips the condom wrapper over and over with his fingers. With a smug laugh, he slips the wrapper back into the front pocket of his date’s trousers, while Daniel is still visibly recovering from how mortified he feels.

Daniel will be forever thankful that the live band from the opposite side of the bar suddenly announces and invites all customers to gather in front of the stage at that exact moment, grasping the attention from both of them.

“Shall we join them?” Jihoon joyfully exclaims as he suddenly grabs Daniel's hand. He gets up and rushes to where the crowd assembles, dragging Daniel with him.  Daniel is obviously happy to oblige, feeling gleefully surprised to find Jihoon to be enthusiastic and energetic despite what just happened.

 

And their hands remain to hold for the rest of the night.

 

-

 

“Why are you so late?” Jisung asks with a sharp tone when he sees Seongwoo, who _finally_ arrives at the _Innisfree_ they work at, “did you get my text?”

“What? What text?” Seongwoo is alarmed by Jisung’s attitude as he takes off the earphones.

“Boss has been interviewing all of us one by one since this morning, asking us what have we contributed these years and then starting to lay people off,” Jisung replies to Seongwoo as he pulls his friend to a corner where other staff members cannot hear them, “my text is to ask you to start thinking what’s your contribution.”

 

To Jisung’s amazement, Seongwoo exhales slowly and shoves his hands into his pocket, as if this does not affect him at all.

“Come on. We are the _loafers_ of this store. What do you expect? A promotion? Accept our fate, for life and death are pre-determined.” retorts Seongwoo. He then takes out his BB cream cushion in his pocket and applies it on his face.  

Jisung is evidently displeased with this unreasonably laid-back response. “Do you know what is the lowest point an adult can get?” asks Jisung with his arms crossed and his chin lifted.

“What?” replies Seongwoo, as he continues to tap his face with the make-up sponge without looking at Jisung.

“An N-E-E-T, neet! You know, someone who is Not in Education, Employment or Training. That’s _you_  if you get fired today, and you are worse, you are _not even in love_.”

 

Seongwoo stops applying his make-up and glares at Jisung, “you, my friend, are a mean bitch.”

“That’s why we are friends. Can you stay at your mom’s forever? No! You need to pay rent and bills some day. We need a _job,_ ” Jisung drawls out.

“Then what's your master plan?” 

“Look, I don't think all of us will be fired, or else there is no need to see us one by one. Can we like…rat on the junior staff? Like, they always misappropriate make-up samples?” schemes Jisung.

“ _Bitch please_ , You work at _Innisfree_ for god’s sake. Don't talk like you have never done that. Who doesn’t embezzle make-up samples here? I bet even our boss does.”

-

 

It’s Seongwoo’s turn.

 

“Manager-nim,” says Seongwoo as he knocks the door. 

“Please have a seat, and feel free to call me Sungwoon next time.” Seongwoo’s boss politely acknowledges, “Seongwoo-ah, how long have you been working in _Innisfree_?”

“Almost 4 years,” Seongwoo mentally does the math and is secretly shocked by the answer. It feels like yesterday when he first worked here.

“Can you briefly describe what have you contributed to the company?” 

“It’s not easy to describe, you know,” replies Seongwoo, even though deep down he knows he has contributed almost nothing.

“Give it a shot and try?” Sungwoon continues to be frighteningly polite.

 

“Well… you know, we are already very busy cause we got a lot of duties. We have to suggest suitable products to our customers, demonstrate how to use them, perform makeovers, operate the cash register, stock shelves, blah blah blah,” answers Seongwoo, “but then, I think it is crucial to do not only what I have just said, but also maintain a neat and well-furbished storefront for customers to have a fully enjoyable shopping experience. So, I think my greatest contribution is that I often review the cleaning tools we have, so that we can tidy our store efficiently, among other duties we have.”

 

Sungwoon is mildly shocked by this unconventional (but borderline off-topic) answer.

 

Seongwoo points to the mop behind Sungwoon’s desk and answers, “this Swifty WetJet behind you is bucketless, cause it uses disposable cleaning pads instead of traditional spongey strings, meaning that we don’t have to deal with the hassle of emptying buckets of dirty water. It can even fully absorb liquid foundations in case a customer drops a bottle."

He then points to the detergent next to the mop, “this Soft Touch Sea Salt-scented detergent is supposed to be used in a dishwasher but I find it unexpectedly useful if you apply it directly on surfaces like shelves and counters. You know, a lot of people come and go, leaving so much grease and countless fingerprints. This helps a lot.”

 

The manager is now absolutely shocked by how elaborate but non-sensical Seongwoo’s answer is.

“Manager-nim, I will just write down where do I buy these stuff and hand over to someone before my last day,” says Seongwoo, “just ask someone to regularly update the list.”

Sungwoon leans forward and asks with a perplexed look, “why do you think I’m firing you?”

“Cause everyone here thinks I am a good-for-nothing here?” answers Seongwoo casually.

Sungwoon sits up straight and crosses his arms, clearing his throat before he responds.

“I got a call from the Head Office from Seoul last week. We are refining our focus in the coming years on tourists as our target customers. They are opening new branches there, you know, cause a greater portion of them go to Seoul. We just need more people there and less people here,” Sungwoon reasons.

Seongwoo nods his head, thinking that his boss is going to explain when is his last day and how much severance payment he will receive next.

 

“They’ll transfer me to Seoul next month, and they also ask me to bring a few reliable and experienced people to help train the new junior colleagues there," Sungwoon continues, "are you okay with going to Seoul?” 

“Me?” Seongwoo answers with a shaky voice, “but…but I am the laziest one here!”

“Lucky for you that’s what I like,” Sungwoon immediately responds with a sing-song tone, “why should I bring some aggressive ones with me to Seoul? So that they can compete with me and go after my seat after a few years? It’s a promotion, by the way, cause I will be the district manager of Apgujeong but not merely a store manager anymore. _You_ will be the new store manager there if you go.”

 

Seongwoo slowly nods his head again, still trying to comprehend his boss’ weird rationale behind his decision.

“Good. I suppose that’s a yes. I’ll tell Head Office about this. You and Jisung will go to Seoul, okay?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Sorry for not replying to the comments on the last chapter cause I don't know how to reply to them without spoiling the (poorly executed) twist T.T
> 
> 2\. Bed is a real lounge-bar in Prague where they have beds as sofas, (they still do have some sofas if I remember correctly). I did feel very decadent (in a good way) when I was there. Gosh this makes me miss the days when I was in Europe :(
> 
> 3\. Hopefully Minhyun will appear very soon because I really want him to. T.T Please forgive the dreadfully slow pace of the story. T.T


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, the chapter will be beta'd soon. Thank you for your tolerance.

Jisung promised to help Seongwoo pack his belongings for Seoul but he is now lazing around in Seongwoo’s room.

Typical behaviour of a best friend.

 

“Why are you bringing so many make-up samples with you? I’m sure there are tons of them for you to embezzle in Seoul,” asks Jisung while he grabs some of the said make-up samples in his hands from one of Seongwoo’s paper boxes.

“Just want to make sure I have enough before I am comfortable to snitch any in our new store,” Seongwoo answers casually, as he turns around to put more T-shirts into his luggage.

“Really? Or you want to make sure you look good 24/7 in case you may run into _him_ in Seoul?” Jisung playfully asks, dumping the samples back into the box.

Seongwoo gives Jisung the classic death stare, “ _bitch please_ , that’s such a stretch.”

 

“Why is this a stretch? Isn’t he in Seoul?” 

“Come on, Seoul is _so_ much bigger,” retorts Seongwoo, as he stacks a paper box on top of another with the help of Seonho, “I didn’t even run into him when he was still here in Busan, don’t you remember? He once crashed here when I was having retail therapy with you in Seomyeon. Why would I run into him there?”

“Well, on second thought, you don’t have to _run_ into him though. Why don’t you call and tell him that you are going to Seoul also?”

“For what?”

“As a chance to clear things up? Have you guys explicitly called it off yet?”

“Do we need to?” Seongwoo asks rhetorically, “I think both of us have just naturally moved on.I’m apparently done with him ever since the beach party drama and it’s been two months with literally ZERO contact between us ever since he has moved to Seoul. There is no need to be so adamant about an explicit end.”

Jisung offers no replies.  He does not want to bluntly point out that Seongwoo is saying all these _to himself_.

 

“Oh, by the way, can you call the junior staff from our new store and tell them when we are arriving?” Seungwoo digresses from their original topic, "we are map-reading idiots, you know, remember our Osaka trip? It will be better if they’re free to pick us up from the airport.”

“Oh right, let me call them,” Jisung replies, “finally something that I can do well.”

“Yes.”

“I sense sarcasm from your yes.”

“Yes.”

 

-

 

Daniel is examining Jihoon’s camera on the sofa while Jihoon is making their lunch in the kitchen.

“Be careful, don’t press the shutter, films are difficult to find now,” Jihoon joyfully says, as he nips over from the kitchen to the coffee table, with a bowl of noodles on a tray in his hand.

“It smells good,” Daniel compliments, putting down the camera next to him.

“Yeah, cause I added some homemade chilli paste,” Jihoon places the tray on the coffee table, pointing at the glass jar next to the bowl of noodles, “but I’m not sure how spicy can you handle, just add more if you need it.”

“Thanks,” replies Daniel. Without hesitation, he adds a big spoonful of the said chilli paste into the bowl.

“Don’t put so much! The spiciness kicks in late and comes in waves,” warns Jihoon, as he leans on Daniel.

To say Daniel is devouring the food is an understatement. He leans forward to the coffee table and scoffs more than half of the noodles with the blink of an eye. Jihoon is about to mock him and compare his mouth with a vacuum cleaner when Daniel suddenly says, “the paste is _so_ good, can I have a jar?”

“Sure, in exchange of what?” replies Jihoon with a knowing smile and his gaze locked on Daniel’s face.

“I can… _khoff…khak khak…khoff kahk_ ”.

Daniel starts to cough uncontrollably as the waves of pepperiness finally kick in. His tongue feels like being attacked by millions of tiny sharp needles.

Jihoon gives out a mild wheeze, handing Daniel a glass of water from the tray while patting his back, “you ok? Drink some water first.”

Daniel grabs the glass of water and wolfs it down. “W _ow_ ,” mutters Daniel right after he empties the glass, while Jihoon chuckles at how silly Daniel looks. The cough eventually dies down but the spicy feeling on Daniel’s tongue does not. He starts to stick his tongue out and pants as an desperate attempt to ease the pain.

Jihoon first chuckles louder at what he sees, then, without any forewarning, Jihoon holds Daniel’s head with both hands and leaves a peck on the tip of Daniel’s tongue.

“Any better?” asks Jihoon shyly, averting eye contact from Daniel.

 

Daniel is literally dumbfounded by Jihoon’s bold move that he forgets his tongue is still stuck out, but he is soon reminded of this fact when Jihoon leaves another peck on the same position.

“What about now?” Jihoon asks again, passionately staring at Daniel this time with his arms wrapped around his neck.

Daniel is aware that Jihoon is going to kiss him as he could feel his breath puff warm on his lips and he reciprocates Jihoon’s urge. As soon as their lips touch, Daniel can hear Jihoon moaning into his mouth. His own hands then clamber for a grip on Jihoon’s shoulders, pulling their bodies closer together.

Jihoon knows he is accurately deciphering the situation, as he can feel Daniel’s nails digging deep into his skin near his shoulder. Taking this as an encouragement, he shifts his body and pushes Daniel down onto the sofa as he lies his body right on top of his, pressing himself to continue the kiss. He then works his way down to Daniel’s chest as Jihoon unbuttons his shirt.

Just when Daniel is befuddled by how quick the event turns, both of them hear the frightful sound of a key rattling in the lock of the front door. In no time, Jihoon and Daniel sit up straight and hastily groom their wrinkled garments.

 

To Daniel’s surprise, it’s Sewoon.

“Hey,” greets Sewoon as he enters the front door, “oh, I thought only Daniel will be here. You must be Jihoon then. I’m Sewoon, by the way, nice to meet you.”

Daniel mentally curses at Jaehwan for being such a big mouth when Jihoon responds, “Nice to meet you, Sewoon-shi. Errr…Daniel, where is the washroom?”

Daniel points to a room to his right and Jihoon rushes into it, unintentionally closing the door with a bang.

 

Right after the bathroom door is closed, Sewoon stares at Daniel with a smug smile, one that Daniel swears no reasonable person could differentiate from the smile of the classic Mr Bean “ _if you know what i mean_ ” meme.

“Did I just cock-block you,” Sewoon’s tone suggests that he is asserting instead of genuinely asking.

“No, we are…um…having noodles,” insists Daniel, pointing at the tray on the coffee table.

“ _Sure, bruh_ , noodles that give you hickeys on your neck and such messy hair,” replies Sewoon.

“Why are you here? and where is Jaehwan?” asks Daniel as he tries to change the topic.

“I’m on my annual leave, so I came up here to find Jaehwan,” Sewoon replies as his facial expression returns to the Mr. Bean-esque smile, “He went to pick me up from the airport this morning and he is now at the convenient store downstairs buying…um…something we may need to use _tonight._ ”

“You two are a match made in heaven,” says Daniel as he rolls his eyes.

“Probably, Jaehwan has once drunk-called me, saying that he would never leave me cause I am the only one who has ever been able to take all of him in, whatever that means.”

“I’m glad he told me this story before, or I will be traumatised as fuck right now.”

 

Daniel will later be told that this is exactly how Jihoon feels when Sewoon’s statement is the first thing he hears when he opens the bathroom door.

 

-

 

“So, what are the names of the two kids who are going to pick us up?” asks Seongwoo as he pushes the luggage trolley to the airport exit.

“One of them is actually of the same age as you. His name is Lim Youngmin. He should be the taller one with red hair. The other one is Park Woojin, much younger, 19 years old,” reports Jisung, walking along with Seongwoo, “I got all these from Facebook and Instagram in case you wonder.”

“I never doubted your stalking skills.”

“You know, I once thought I could set you up with Youngmin cause I’m sure he is your type,” replies Jisung, “but then apparently he has a long term boyfriend whose name is Kim Dong- _something_. Same as Woojin, whose boyfriend is Ahn _something-something_. I forgot, cause I just took a glance of their profiles.”

“Seriously, you will shine bright in espionage. Your talent is being wasted here cause. And, by the way, don't set me up, cause that's awkward as fuck,” replies Seongwoo, “oh, _hush_ , here they are.”

There is simply no way for Seongwoo and Jisung to miss out the two “kids”. Youngmin and Woojin arestanding right in front of the exit for arrivals with a very bright smile, holding an embarrassingly large paperboard that contains Seongwoo and Jisung’s full name in both Hangul and in CAPITAL ENGLISH LETTERS, as if they are joyously waiting for their parents to come back from a trip.

“I guess you two must be Youngmin and Woojin,” says Seongwoo with a beam, even though he is mildly creeped out by how Youngmin and Woojin seem to be overly enthusiastic to meet their store manager.

‘Yes, good afternoon, Manager-nim,” both of them replies with a bow.

Seongwoo reciprocates a bow silently, unsure of how well-mannered his response should be.

“Good afternoon to you too, Assistant Manager-nim,” the two bows at Jisung, to which Jisung also bows back.

Seeing such genuinely polite and courteous junior colleagues contradictorily sends chills down Seongwoo’s and Jisung’s spines, especially when the ones in Busan used to label them as the _sloths_ or the _loafers_ behind their backs.

“Good afternoon, shall we…er…get going? Our apartment is in Cheongdam-dong, can you get us a taxi and bring us there? We two dumb-dumbs will get lost if we go by ourselves for sure,” asks Jisung.

“Oh! We rented a van in case Manager-nim and Assistant Manager-nim have a lot of luggage,” answers Youngmin.

“Aww….thank you, just call me Jisung will be good, by the way, I’m not that old, trust me.” replies Jisung.

“Same here, especially you, Youngmin-ah, we are of the same age actually,” Seongwoo follows,as he eyes at Jisung, “don’t ask me why do I know that.”

 

-

 

There goes another uneventful month for Seongwoo.

 

He is slowly getting used to how fast-paced Seoul is as a metropolitan. As the store manager of _Innisfree_ in Gangnam, a literal tourist magnet, it means his job becomes tens times busier than before, even though he no longer needs to carry out storefront-cleaning duties , which he secretly misses.

He is also getting used to how absurdly long the queue is if they want a table in any restaurants during lunch hours. He, Jisung, Youngmin and Woojin are now impatiently waiting for their turn in front of a Thai restaurant near their store. All of them are on their phones trying to kill time.

 

“Hey…has _he_ ever told you where exactly does he work?” Jisung asks Seongwoo, after seeing Minki's beach party photo on his Instagram (with the hashtag #latergram).

“Who? Oh, **_him~_** _._ Gees, can we not go through this loop again? All I know is it’s in Gangnam, but why should I care? why should you?” Seongwoo rhetorically asks with a wry grin, finally feeling mildly comfortable to talk about Daniel after all these months, even though he will still prefer using the word “him” instead of “Daniel” in case they have to explore this topic.

“Cause Gangnam is exactly where our branch is? and also where we are?” answers Jisung, “I mean, it’s lunch hour now, all office workers nearby converge at this street for food."

"You have nothing better to say?" Seongwoo replies with a comedic frown.

"Okay, Let’s say, if you _really_ do bump into him, what would you say?”

Seongwoo blurts out with a laugh, “I’ll yell at him at the top of my lungs for such a scum he is.”

“ _Bitch please_ , you are all talk,” Jisung joins the laughter, while Youngmin and Woojin are absolutely clueless of what they are talking about.

 

Jisung’s smile completely vanishes when he notices, over 50 feet away, a person behind Seungwoo’s back with pink hair and broad shoulders. At first, he brushes it off by telling himself that he must have been mistaken. This could just be a case of confirmation bias, for how pink hair equals to Daniel, vice versa. Yet, as that person slowly treads towards the gang, he realises he did not mistake the identity of the man.

 

It is Daniel.

“Uhh…Seungwoo,” softly mutters Jisung, “I know I have a flair for the dramatic, but this is true. He is behind you.”

“ _Bitch please_ ,” Seungwoo groans with contempt, refusing to turn around. He firmly believes that Jisung is pulling a prank on him, as Daniel is the topic they have just discussed.

“He’s coming over,” says Jisung with his brows furrowed.

“That’s enough.” Seungwoo answers coldly, apparently annoyed. 

“He’s…really…behind you.” Jisung reassures with fear in his eyes.

“ _Yoon Jisung_ ,” rebukes Seongwoo with his classic death stare.

 

By this time, Daniel is just merely 10 feet away. Jisung is sure that Daniel _does_  see them from such a short distance (or else he is deliberately avoiding the gang). Knowing that he cannot avoid the imminent encounter anymore, Jisung eyes directly at Daniel with an elegant (albeit, forced) smile.

 

“Hi,” greets Jisung, “long time no see.”

“Sure it is.”

 

Seongwoo hears the voice behind his back, and instantaneously figures out that it _really_ is Daniel. He swiftly turns his head around and, as much as he does not want to believe, finds Daniel standing in front of him.

Daniel gives him a slight nod, even though he appears to be in an equal state of unease. Their eyes meet for a split-second, before both of them shift their gazes away.

 

“Hi,” Seongwoo answers with a nervous laughter, flipping his hair with his hand as his stare frequently interchanges between Daniel and a random lamppost from afar.

An extremely unbearable silence then ensues among them.

“Uh…” Seongwoo mutters as he continues to anxiously flip his hair, trying his best in his life to come up with something to say, but to no avail.

“On holiday? or on a business trip?” Daniel cautiously asks, arbitrarily staring at Seongwoo’s collar in order avoid any direct eye contact.

“Oh, uh, Jisung and I were transferred here last month to train some new colleagues here, yeah…,” explains Seongwoo. Before he even completes his sentence, however,  Seongwoo is cognisant of another man walking close to them behind Daniel with a bright smile.

 

“Our table is ready,” the said man reaches Daniel and intertwine Daniel’s arm with his as he affectionately utters, “good job that I start queueing here before your lunch hour starts, huh?”

 

Everyone goes silent.  Seongwoo immediately eyes away from the pair and lands his gaze on another random lamppost while Jisung turns his head away in order to hide his widened eyes. Even though Seongwoo has no idea who he is, from their body language, painfully obvious to him (and everyone else) is that he has to be Daniel’s _new boyfriend_ , or at least, his new date.

 

It is Jihoon, who is here to find Daniel for lunch before his flight to Hong Kong this evening.

 

“Let me introduce,” Daniel tries to break the silence, “Jihoon, this is Seongwoo and Jisung, friends from Busan, and…,” Daniel hesitates when he realises this is also the first time he meets the two younger-looking guys next to Seongwoo and Jisung.

 

“Our colleagues, Youngmin and Woojin,” Jisung interjects as he turns his head back.

“Hello! This is Jihoon,” says Jihoon with an energetic tone, waving his hand.

 

Only Youngmin and Woojin reciprocate Jihoon’s waves in an equally vivacious manner, while Seongwoo and Jisung can only give a forced smile.

“Care to join us?” continues Jihoon with a cheerful voice, “we can ask if they can add some more chairs.”

“Nah, I guess they won’t allow you to triple the seats you originally ask for, especially it’s lunchtime.” replies Jisung with a smile, secretly thinking Jihoon would definitely be the customer with weird requests if he ever visits Innisfree.

“Right…” Jihoon agrees with a smile, holding Daniel’s arm with an even tighter grip, “I guess we have to get in first then, cause I have to arrive at Incheon airport later this afternoon.”

 

Others nod their heads as a farewell while Jihoon drags Daniel along with him into the Thai restaurant. Seongwoo swears he sees Daniel turning his head around to look at him before he steps into the restaurant, but he is not certain enough to ask Jisung if he also sees it.

 

-

 

“You know, life is short, but it’s long enough for us to fall for a scum or two,” says Jisung as he leers at Daniel and Jihoon across the other end of the restaurant, “we talked about how this is bound to happen. It’s either you who bump into him or him who bumps into you.”

Seongwoo hums cursorily, ignoring whether what Jisung said makes sense. He slowly stirs the bowl of chicken curry with his chopsticks as if it was a cauldron, having no appetite at all after what has just happened.

“What do you think about Jihoon?” Seongwoo asks Jisung.

“Pardon?” Woojin interrupts, thinking the question is directed to everyone on the table.

 

After a short pause following Woojin's response, Seongwoo puts down his chopsticks and sits up straight, facing Youngmin and Woojin across the table.

“What I mean is, if…you have to compare, am I any different from Jihoon?” Seongwoo asks, “you know, the one that you two enthusiastically waved at just then?

 

Youngmin and Woojin are silent upon hearing the question, not sure what should they answer.

“If you compare our age, he is younger. If you compare our face, he is cuter. He’s better than me, am I right?”, asks Seongwoo as he leans forward and gazes at the two.

 

Jisung can smell trouble coming with Seongwoo’s (semi-rhetorical) questions. He pushes his seat back in an extremely slow pace, fearing that it will screech upon the movement. He then leans back and glares at the two junior staff, slightly shaking his head at the same time as a warning.

 

“Don’t worry about telling me the truth! We should be frank, cause we are a team now,” Seongwoo smilingly encourages with an eerily positive tone (at least in Jisung’s ears).

“To be very honest, he is a bit cuter, but only because he is younger,” Youngmin slowly mutters, knowing that he cannot be silent forever, while Woojin visibly nods at the statement.

Jisung cannot help but gives out a soft sigh, indecisive of whether the two are too innocent or too slow on the uptake.

 

“Yeah, that’s true,” Seongwoo repeatedly nods his head while he blankly stares at the table, “what else?”

“But…I think Manager-nim’s face may turn the tables on him in 5 years,” Woojin answers with an uplifting tone.

“Why?” Jisung asks dryly. 

“Unlike a woman who undergoes drastic changes from 25 to 30, a man undergoes drastic changes from 18 to 23. In this generation with such harsh ageism,  it is, in effect, the change from a young kid to an ajusshi, which is super scary, cause no one knows what changes one will go through in these 5 years,” Woojin elaborates.

 

“Manager-nim, however, has nothing to worry about,” continues Woojin.

Even Youngmin turns his head to glare at Woojin for what his speech could imply. Jisung simply wishes there was an air-raid shelter to shield him from the forthcoming apocalypse. 

 

“You are already an ajusshi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Not sure how should I divide the chapter, so this becomes one long-ass chapter. Forgive me T.T  
> 2\. I receive comments asking me whether this will be Ongniel or Nielwink or Ongmin endgame. I am perfectly fine with answering this but I'm not sure if I should do this in the comment section, cause I'm scared that other readers who don't want to know the answer may accidentally read it (even though I don't think anyone is reading this fic). Please inbox me if you are desperate to know the endgame.  
> 3\. We are finally reaching around 25-30% of the story. (Yay) I know. Minhyun is still not here yet. Sorry. He should appear in the next chapter or the one after. Trust me, I really want him to appear so that my character tags make sense (and no one feels cheated by the tag anymore) T.T  
> 4\. Sometimes I do think my sentences are too wordy. I will definitely beta them (just like what I did for my previous chapters). Once again, thank you for your tolerance XOXO


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My stupid ass accidentally deleted this chapter right after I published it. Sorry for the fuss.  
> This chapter took me SO MUCH LONGER than I imagine and I definitely have to BETA soon.  
> Thank you for your tolerance.

** 8:45 a.m, Saturday. **

 

“You said you are coming here to Seoul to visit me,” Seongwoo groans as he strolls slowly without any energy, “but you are here contravening my fundamental human rights.”

“Come on, drama queen,” says Daehwi, almost dragging Seongwoo as he walks, “can you be quick on your feet, I don’t want to be late.”

“It’s not even 9 a.m. in the morning and it’s my day-off. I should be on my fucking bed.”

Daehwi ignores Seongwoo but concentrates on locating their destination instead. With a squint of the Naver Map on his phone, he skids to a stop with a smile, “I think we are here.”

 

In front of Seongwoo and Daehwi is nothing but an ordinary Starbucks.

“I need extremely cogent and convincing reasons why we have to travel across Hangang just to be in this particular Starbucks in Ehwa, on a motherfucking  _Saturday,_ ” Seongwoo says with a tone indicating that he is ready to fume.

“Okay, but promise me you won’t get mad.”

“Spill the tea.”

“I enrolled in a blind date programme…”

 

Seongwoo’s face turn into a scowl as soon as he hears what Daehwi said, for his utter hatred of blind dates.

 

“…for both of us.”

“WHAT THE FUCK? I’m going back to sleep,” Seongwoo prepares to stomp away, realising that Daehwi is bringing him to meet a blind date.

“Wait!” Daehwi stops Seongwoo by holding his arm, “come on…, don’t you want to turn over a new leaf?”

“I’d rather turn over in my bed,” Seongwoo hisses, “out of all people on Earth, I can’t believe you are the one who acts like a stereotypical straight friend that sets their gay friends up.”

“Seongwoo-shi…, don’t be so negative about this,” Dawhwi pleads with pouted lips, “ask yourself, where are you gonna find a guy here in Seoul when you know literally no one other than Jisung?”

Seongwoo is silent, because he knows what Daehwi said is not entirely false. He finds no suitable targets from his workplace cause all of them are are either straight or occupied, nor is he an extroverted party-goer like Jisung. There are simply no other channels for him to meet another guy, except mobile dating apps, which he finds strongly unreliable from his own experience during college years.

In fact, considering how Daehwi’s previous relationships all ended tragically, sometimes Seongwoo wants to applaud Daehwi’s tenacity in finding love after repeated defeats. If he was Daehwi, he knew he would doubt himself whether he really was the  _Black Widow_ that brings nothing but death to his boyfriends.

Now even Daehwi, a person who underwent all these, remains to be optimistic and ready, taking initiative to find love, Seongwoo starts to question himself if it is legitimate for him to be so passive.

Seeing how Seongwoo hesitates to give a response, Daehwi further encourages, “just give it try, okay? I scanned through almost all profiles for you. He is now 27 and has already served the army, which sounds very nice. I don’t know how he looks cause he didn’t attach a photo, but the profile said, and I quote,  _was the ugly duckling during childhood but grew up to be like Song Joong-ki_.”

“ _Bitch please_ , then I must look like Song Hye-gyo,” retorts Seongwoo.

“Can you be less cynical for a second? His profile also states he works at an accounting…”

“ _Wait_ , Lee Daehwi,” Seongwoo interupts, realising something does not make sense, “so, you can attach a photo of yours on your profile?”

“Yeah.”

“Now let me sidetrack a bit, did you attach a photo for yourself, or for me?”

Daehwi shakes his head, “Most people didn’t attach one, so I didn’t. Only very few people did that, usually very very good-looking ones.”

“Good,” Seungwoo breathily says after he exhales heavily as a relief, “now, back to the more important question, say, unlike me, you voluntarily joins this programme, and you really look likethe almighty Song Joong-ki, will you attach a photo of yours?”

“Uh-huh,  _wait_ …”

Evidently, the moment of epiphany for Daehwi comes behind time when a guy who looks nothing like Song Joong-ki suddenly approaches them and asks if either one of the two is Ong Seongwoo.

 

-

** 4:50 p.m, Saturday **

 

“Honey, can you get me the bottle of Chardonnay inside my luggage? It's in my room.” asks Jihoon as he spreads the tablecloth on his dining table.

Jihoon has organised a casual gathering with his friends in his own apartment in Oido, one that he has asked Daniel to join.

Daniel is very contented to do so at first as a chance to meet Jihoon’s friends (and also more people who live in Seoul). Originally, he pictured the gathering would be one similar to those he had with Jaehwan and Sewoon in Busan; one with nuts, honey butter chips and canned beers.

Yet, after shopping with Jihoon this morning for blue cheese, caviar, and Parma ham in a high-end supermarket nearby for the gathering, he now feels ambivalent as to whether staying in the same room for hours with people who acquire a taste for very fancy stuff is a good idea.

“Sure,” replies Daniel as he gets up from the sofa, “but why would there be a bottle of white wine in your luggage?”

“I got it from the duty free when I was in the Hong Kong airport,” replies Jihoon, placing wine glasses on the table at the same time.

Daniel trots to Jihoon’s room and opens the luggage, trying to search for the bottle of white wine among other things. The first item that catches his attention, however, is a cushion.

 

A Chip and Dale cushion.

 

“Can you find it?” Jihoon also walks into the room to check if Daniel could locate the bottle, knowing that he packed his luggage very messily. What he sees, however, is Daniel holding the Chip and Dale cushion he bought in Hong Kong.

“Haha, I got it from Hong Kong Disneyland,” explains Jihoon, placing his head on Daniel’s arm at the same time, “cause the one in your room is so worn out, I want to buy a new one for you, do you like it?”

“yeah…yeah…of course I do,” Daniel answers flatly, as he turns his head around and notices Jihoon’s affectionate gaze. Immediately, he turns his head back to blankly stare at the cushion in order to hide his guilt - the guilt of how Seongwoo pops up in his mind because of a gift from his current boyfriend.

“I was thinking about giving this to you on our half-year anniversary, but now you found it,” mutters Jihoon with a tight grip on his boyfriend’s arm, seemingly unaware of Daniel’s unnatural reaction, “argh, silly me, should’ve get the Chardonnay by myself.”

“Yeah…,” Daniel casually replies, before realising his response is a tad too cold compared to a normal person who just receives a gift from his/her lover, “I mean… I definitely love this. You are so sweet and attentive, as always. Thank you.”

“Glad you like it,” Jihoon reaches the luggage in order to retrieve the bottle of white wine, “better get ready, they are almost arriving.”

Daniel nods and returns to the living room.

“Oh, honey, help me get some apple juice from the fridge too, one of my friends is bringing her kid,” Jihoon requests just when he applies his orange lip tint.

“A kid? How old are your friends? How come she has a kid?” asks Daniel with the fridge door open.

“25 if I remember correctly. She is expecting another baby boy 4 months from now too,” explains Jihoon after he also returns to the living room, “her kid is  _so_  cute, kinda makes me jealous.”

“You like kids?” Daniel asks as he places the jar of apple juice on the table, surprised by how Jihoon’s answer seem to imply he wants a family and his own kids at such a young age.

“Yeah,” replies Jihoon while he strolls towards Daniel, wrapping his hands behind Daniel’s neck with his gaze locked into Daniel’s eyes, “don’t you?”

Daniel does reciprocate Jihoon’s gaze, but with significant hesitation. He has never considered having children in the coming ten years, firmly believing that career should be his focus. Besides, working in the advertising industry for more than 3 years means that he has dealt with a number of child actors, and he has been in more-than-enough occasions where the child became cranky and grouchy all of a sudden, throwing  tantrums at the studio with no obvious reasons.

To him, at least as of now as a 22-year-old man, having kids is not even at the back of his head, but something totally unfathomed. He knows he might be amplifying the negative sides of having a kid, but he is also sure that Jihoon is doing the same on the positive sides of having one.

“My friends always say I’m the immature one in the gang, you know, it is cruel to see a kid to be looked after by another kid,” Daniel tries to joke and laugh away the potential consternation between the two while he hugs Jihoon tenderly.

Jihoon has absolutely no intention to put pressure on his boyfriend (of less than half-a-year) from his cursory “ _don’t you_ ” question tag, especially when family planning should be something of the  _very very_  distant future for both of them, even though Jihoon adores children and naively believes he would get a “yes” answer from Daniel.

Now he regrets blurting out the question tag and has to also laugh away this matter in order to digress themselves from this topic.

“You are definitely not a kid  _last night_ ,” Jihoon smirks after showing a split-second of disappointment on his face, of which Daniel actually secretly notices, “anyway, get some crackers from the cupboard too, we need them for the caviar.”

 

-

** 8:00 p.m, Saturday **

Seongwoo has been sluggishly lounging on the sofa alone at home since afternoon after the tragic blind date, feeling sentimental as he aimlessly browses the photos in his phone that were taken during the happier times in Busan.

He misses the old carefree days, and he is thinking of doing something that Jisung will certainly stop him (and probably chop his hand off) if he figures out.

He wants to text that  _one person_  whom he  _most definitely should not._

If Jisung was here, he would scream at him with remarks like “ _bitch don’t you dare_ ” and bring him to karaoke just to get this off his mind.

Yet, the reality is Jisung is no where to be found. Worse still, Seongwoo knows  _exactly_  what to send to him (and what to reply next) just to open up the conversation without coming off as too desperate or too awkward.

“Ong Seongwoo you are a piece of trash,” he murmurs after he runs his eye over the chat history with  _him_ and sends the text, succumbing to the temptation. He then drops the phone on the coffee table and opens a can of beer, waiting for a reply.

 

-

** 8:01 p.m., Saturday **

 

Daniel is bored.

 

He is now sitting in the dining room feeling like he is in a silent competition with the kid across the table on who is the most bored, while Jihoon is next to him, completely absorbed into the conversation with a glass of Chardonnay in his hand.

Jihoon’s friends are…too sophisticated for him to communicate with. They talked about art galleries that recently opened in Apgujeong, newest developments in the aviation industry, and, of course, the expected baby boy of Jihoon’s friend, none of which Daniel could resonate.

He unlocks his phone for the 1000th time to check the time. A minute has passed since he last checked an hour ago, or so it seemed. He places the phone back into the pocket and pretends he is paying attention to the ongoing conversation in the room.

Right after, a vibration from his phone grabs Daniel out of his boredom. He reaches his pocket to take a glance and, to his utter shock, the phone displays that it receives a text from  _Seongwoo_.

He quickly takes a scan of the room to make sure no one (especially Jihoon) is paying attention to him before he opens the text.

**Ong**   **Seongwoo** :  
“        ”

It takes Daniel a while to figure out that this is actually a blank text, but not a glitch.

**Kang Daniel** :  
“ _Just found me?_ ”

**Ong Seongwoo** :  
“ _No. Why?_ ”

**Kang Daniel** :  
“ _cause I just received a text from you, but it’s blank. Haha._ ”

**Ong Seongwoo** :  
“ _pocket-text maybe? Haha. What’s up?_ ”

Daniel thinks this could be an opportunity to get himself out of this room of boredom.

**Kang Daniel** :  
“ _late snack?_ ”

**Ong Seongwoo:  
** “ _I’m home, just finished bathing, may take a long time before I can leave._ ”

At first, Seongwoo fears that phrasing his text in this way will make him sound very uninterested. Daniel’s reply, however, suggests that he might have been over-worried.

Right after he reads Daniel’s text, Seongwoo immediately rushes to the mirror in his room and tries on the new black choker he got yesterday from G-Market, visualising what outfit will best accentuate his jaw line and his neck and, hence, be the best match with the said accessory.

 

The text from Daniel reads,

**Kang Daniel:**  
“ _9:30pm in Hongdae, then?_ ”

 

-

** 9:00 p.m., Saturday **

“Uh, sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt you guys’ conversation,” Daniel announces as he stands up from his chair, “but I guess I have to leave first, something came up at work.”

Jihoon immediately lifts his head to look at his boyfriend with a soothing smile, “it’s fine, honey, work is more important." He grabs Daniel’s hand and also stands up from his seat, landing a passionate kiss on his boyfriend’s lips, one that Daniel cannot fully reciprocate.

“Promise you have to miss me, okay?” Jihoon asks affectionately.

Daniel quickly nods his head and avoids Jihoon’s gaze before he strolls to the front door, thinking that he may actually arrive early.

-

** 10:15 p.m., Saturday **

Seongwoo has finally arrived at Hongdae.

After trying on countless different colour combinations in front of the mirror for almost an hour and a half, in the end, he simply matches the black choker with a plain, black, long-sleeved collarless button-down shirt with black trousers and black leather shoes, fearing that any daring and conspicuous colours will result in a fashion faux pas.

He steps into the agreed restaurant and looks for Daniel.

Daniel, on the other hand, cannot help but fixates his eyes on Seongwoo right when he enters the restaurant, for how  _captivatingly_   _stunning_  he looks tonight. A plain outfit on Seongwoo, in Daniel’s eyes, exudes a confident and alluring aura, not to mention choker always makes Daniel weak on his knees.

“Hey,” Seongwoo calmly waves at Daniel, “sorry for the wait.”

Daniel can only wave back when he finally trances out, “hey, don’t worry, I wasn’t on time either.”

Seongwoo slowly approaches the table and sits down, deliberately avoiding Daniel’s gaze.

“What shall we have?” Seongwoo rests his chin on his left hand and flips the menu on the table with another, pretending not to have noticed that Daniel is actually locking his eyes on him but not the menu.  “Oh, they got fried fish cakes, shall we have that as an appetiser?”

Seongwoo lifts his head to brazenly stare into Daniel’s eyes after asking the question. As he expects, he sees Daniel indulgently gaze at him.

“Shall we?” Seongwoo asks again.

“Oh,” Daniel promptly shifts his stare to the menu, “yeah, I’m fine with whatever, I just had some crackers and a few pieces of ham that are thin like tissue paper. Let’s order.”

-

** 10:45 p.m., Saturday **

“How long have you been here?” asks Daniel, as he wolfs down a piece of ddukbokki.

“Around two months?” replies Seongwoo casually, filling his dish with some kimchi.

“Getting used to Seoul?”

“Nah, it’s really drier here. It’s autumn now, which means it will only get worse. I have to drink water with honey sometimes, especially after a day at work non-stop explaining stuff to customers.” answers Seongwoo with slightly furrowed eyebrows as he holds a piece of dukkokki with his chopsticks.

“What about food?”

“Too many chain stores here, feels like I don’t have a choice sometimes. I miss the mom-and-pop ones. Feels like losing my appetite.”

“Yeah, same here,” answers Daniel.

“Really, aren’t you doing fine though?” hisses Seongwoo as he gloats at Daniel, putting down his chopsticks.

Daniel is caught off-guard by the change of attitude.

“How would you lose your appetite when your appetite for  _finer things in life_ is so getting satisfied,huh? You must sleep with a full stomach,” elaborates Seongwoo with a slight hint of dismay, suddenly realising he could add a bad pun here, “oh, so as he, i guess he must feel very stuffed every night, you know, by you.”

“What are you trying to say here,” Daniel drawls out. He clearly remembers his conversation with Seongwoo a year ago about his appetite for _finer things in life_ and the "he" in Seongwoo's sentence must be referring to Jihoon. Having said that, as masochistic as it sounds, being (somewhat unsuccessfully) passive-aggressive is a trait of Seongwoo that Daniel actually quite misses.

“Nothing,” Seongwoo ends stiffly as he holds his chopsticks again, “beer?”

-

** 11:30 p.m., Saturday **

“Wanna come up for coffee? Jaehwan is not here. He is on a weekend trip in Chuncheon with Sewoon,” Daniel asks casually, as the two strolls towards the main road after their meal.

Even before Daniel finishes asking the question, he realises his invitation could be interpreted in a  _very wrong_  way, especially with Seongwoo’s sensitivity and tendency to over-analyse. His addendum about Jaehwan and Sewoon indeed only concerns how the two can get very  _noisy_  in bed during the night.

With Seongwoo’s face turning into a smirk, Daniel knows his belief is right.

“I am genuinely inviting you for coffee  _only_ as a…”

“No,” answers Seongwoo, “I feel very stuffed right now, like, with  _real food_.”

Daniel gives out a forced smile, knowing that any explanation will be utterly useless.

“And I’m very tired now, cause I had a long day, but I guess we will see again some day,” continues Seongwoo, trying to soothe the atmosphere.

“Of course we should,” Daniel replies, “cut you hair before we meet next time though. It’s getting long.”

“Racy pink hair does not make you an expert in hairstyling,” retorts Seongwoo, “I’m still not sure where to cut it here in Seoul. The one near our…um…your apartment in Busan is too good.”

“That’s not a real hair salon, but just a place for money laundering. No one cuts their hair there except you,” Daniel rolls his eyes, wilfully ignoring Seongwoo’s stutter at a particular point of his sentence where their previous relationship is indirectly mentioned, “Triad societies nearby open a shop there in order to key in all the revenue from other illicit  sources, and then they act like they earn money from hairdressing in their financial accounts, you know, just like window-dressing. I told you before.”

“You are crazy,” replies Seongwoo with a laugh, secretly missing his creativity, “stop your off-the-wall conspiracies.”

Daniel wants to insist that he is right, but he turns silent because there seems to be no use in arguing about this.

“Oh, my cab is here,” Seongwoo annouces as they arrive at the main road in Hongdae. He nips over to the taxi and opens the car door.

“If you really want to give styling advice,” continues Seongwoo, as he holds the door open and stares at Daniel, “tell Jihoon that his orange lip tint is hideous. It’s on your lips since the night begins till now, which means you didn’t wipe your mouth after our meal, which is disgusting, even though I knew you have never formed such a habit.”

Daniel is stunned by how observant Seongwoo is, even though, by now, he really shouldn’t be.

“Bye,” exclaims Seongwoo as he enters the cap, to which Daniel sees him off with a wave.

Immediately after, Daniel wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and finds what seems to be bright orange pigment on it. He is confused, not as to whether the pigment really is Jihoon’s orange lip tint or just the spicy sauce from the ddukbokki they just had, but, what is it between Seongwoo and him?

Did Seongwoo intend to attend this meet-up as a friend? Or as a date? Will anyone be so dressed-up for a friendly meeting? Was Seongwoo jealous when he talked about Jihoon during the meal? Or was that just a showcase of his own brand of mean-humour? Why can't he bring himself to candidly tell Jihoon about he is meeting up with Seongwoo? Even though Daniel is truthfully inviting Seongwoo for coffee only, is he inviting him as a…friend? Or as a…date?  If it is the latter, is he, technically, cheating? Does Seongwoo reciprocate any of these queries?

What _are_ they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. My stupid ass thought what I have written here in this chapter will take me only 1800 words, it turns out I'm reaching almost a double of it, and I have re-written a lot of the parts again and again before I'm confident enough to publish it. Let's hope I don't have major betas, because I am tired of re-reading this chapter. ROAR (at least as of now FML).
> 
> 2\. That's why I originally planned to have Minhyun appear in this chapter. Thankfully I provided myself some wiggle room in last chapter's notes and said he will appear in "the next chapter or the one after" . He will be here for the next chapter. I swear, or all my Wanna One posters will be torn into pieces by my cat when I'm not at home, okay? ^^
> 
> 3\. My stupid ass also thought that the "inbox" in my dashboard meant that private message is available on AO3, which is not the case. I'm not sure by what way can I tell people what the endgame is then, (even though my insecure ass still insists that no one is reading this). Let me think about it.
> 
> 4\. I never thought my fiction is an angsty one, even till now HAHA. My primary worry still lies more on whether my fiction is clear enough to follow, because I tend to construct unnecessarily wordy sentences (like this one), especially in this chapter. That's why I said I have to beta very soon.
> 
> Again, thank you for your tolerance XOXO


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed update. This chapter took me even longer than the last. Will definitely beta it soon. Thank you for your tolerance.
> 
> Btw I suppose this chapter is the most angst-free if you compare with the previous ones, even though I actually think we are not reaching the angsty part...yet?

Another almost unremarkable week has come and gone.

 

It can only be “almost unremarkable” instead of “totally unremarkable”, because Daehwi has been urging Seongwoo to another blind date for the whole week.

“The programme coordinator tells me that this profile has very positive feedback…” Daehwi persuades, as he pours milk into his cereral.

“LEAVE ME ALONE,” Seongwoo heckles, not even letting Daehwi to finish his sentence.

“And both the coordinator and the profile says he looks like  _Syaoran Li_  from  _Cardcaptor Sakura._ ” continues Daehwi.

“ _Bitch please_ , Lee Daehwi, remember that guy we met last time? He also claims he  _was the ugly duckling during childhood but grew up to be like Song Joong-ki._ Turns out how does he look like, huh?” Seongwoo huffs, turning his head to face Jisung, “he looks more like the ugly duckling rather than Song Joong-ki. I am not exaggerating.”

“Hahahahahaha,” Jisung slaps his thigh while he gives out a rambunctious laugh, almost choked by the sandwich in his mouth, “you are mean, but I like it. Is it  _that_  bad though? Won't that be busted once you guys meet? Why does he have to put that in the profile then?”

“He insisted he is technically correct, cause he shares the same height as Song Joong-ki, so he  _grew up to be like_ him, which is absolute nonsense. Not even his earlobes look like Song Joong-ki,” Seongwoo begrudgingly explains, “trust me, I don’t need you to look super good, but can you be honest? Greater expectation just comes with greater disappointment.”

“Consider how all your previous boyfriends look like, I can't bring myself to agree with your statement about how you don’t care about looks,” Jisung mocks, as he places his cup into the kitchen sink, “Da…, I mean, B1A4's Jinyoung for god’s sake, even till now I don’t believe it.”

“You better do,” Seongwoo replies complacently, turning his head to face Daehwi, “can we go back to our main topic? Daehwi, Don't you use to binge-watch  _Cardcaptor Sakura_  for that character cause he is your anime crush? Why can’t  _you_  go and meet him instead?”

“Cause he prefers someone who resides in Seoul,” explains Daehwi with a slight hint of woe.

“Just hand in my profile and say you are me when you see that guy! He won’t know how Ong Seongwoo looks like. We didn’t attach photos, remember?” Seongwoo exclaims, mentally praising himself for being such a genius.

“If it turns out that you two do click, and want to enter a serious relationship, I don’t see why he will mind whether you are living in Seoul. Besides, you can always move to Seoul if that really happens, right," continues Seongwoo, "even though that’s something to be taken up  _much-much-much_  later anyway, cause you may lose interest in him when only his earlobes look like that anime character.”

“Fine," agrees Daehwi, who finds Seongwoo's plan not exactly a bad idea, "you will go with me right? It's next Friday afternoon, your day-off. I checked it from your timetable on the fridge."

“No, I don’t do threesomes.”

“Tsk,  _no_. I’m not asking you to meet him. I’m just asking you to sit on the other side of the cafe. Just like what I did for you last time, cause I’m scared, okay? Won’t you feel more secure if someone you know is also in the room? That’s why last time I went with you.”

“That’s not a fair comparison, I was dragged there last time. Why don’t you ask Jisung?”

“ _WOW! NO!_  Count me out! Well, it’s not my day-off anyway, it’s my shift,” Jisung instantaneously rejects.

“Seongwoo-shi  _please_ ….,” Daehwi pleads with his palms held together.

“Pizza takeaway on you.”

“Deal.”

* * *

 

Seongwoo’s mobile rings when he is resting his head on a table at the corner of the cafe where Daehwi and his date are scheduled to meet.

It's Daehwi's call, who is sitting across the other side, anxiously waiting for his date.

“What now?” Seongwoo sits up and answers his phone lethargically, staring at Daehwi.

“Do you think I have to retouch with some BB cream?” asks Daehwi through the phone, looking at Seongwoo from afar with a beam.

“No,” answers Seongwoo, resting his head on the table again with his eyes closed.

“Is my lip tint too red then? Even though I know you tend to overdo it also.”

“No.”

“You didn’t even open your eyes to take a look.”

Seongwoo opens his eyes with grudge for a split-second before he closes them again.

“No.”

“Argh, the kimchi fried rice and ddukbooki we had last night must be too spicy. Now I feel like my skin is congested, thankfully the break-out hasn't happened yet,” says Daehwi as he peers at his reflection on the mirror in his BB cream cushion compact.

“Oh, bitch  _you should talk_ , you are the one who suggested that shop,” Seongwoo hisses as he stands up, holding his black tote bag in his hand, “they put spicy sauce on everything like it’s water. My stomach still hurts like hell.”

“Where are you going?” asks Daehwi when he sees Seongwoo walking towards his table.

“Washroom, my stomach is still turning,” Seongwoo replies impatiently as he ends the call and puts his mobile back into his pocket, throwing his bag on the seat next to Daehwi’s, “I don’t wanna wait until I can’t hold it. Look after my bag for now.”

“But…but he’s coming! I’ll literally shit my pants if I’m alone here with him.” Daehwi pleads, holding Seongwoo by his arm.

“No, You’ll just  _figuratively_  so, but I will LITERALLY SHIT MY PANTS soon, you are practically asking someone to hold their shit, which is batshit crazy,” Seongwoo reprimands, shaking off Daehwi’s hand, “I’ll be back.”

 

Seongwoo stomps into the washroom and locks the door, turning his back to the toilet seat and taking off his trousers and underwear altogether in haste.

Almost immediately, he hears a  _plop_  sound coming from behind. Confused, Seongwoo turns his head around to take a peek of the toilet seat to see what happened.

“FUCK!”

The _plop_ sound, he realises, was the sound of his phone dropping into the toilet water.

At once, Seongwoo scans the cubicle to see if there is a toilet brush or something stick-like, but nothing is found. He swiftly puts his garments back on in order to get out and contact any of the staff in the cafe for help. Right after he tries to turn the doorknob to unlock the door, however, he discovers that he is actually in an even more hopeless scenario.

The door lock is jammed.

“FUCK ME!”

Seongwoo violently twists the doorknob again as a desperate attempt, while he can feel the pain in his stomach gradually intensifies from a punch to one similar to a sharp-toothed creature eating him from the inside.

“IS ANYONE HERE?” Seongwoo screams at the top of his lungs, banging the door for attention.

No responses can be heard except the echoes from Seongwoo’s screams.

“HELLLLLLLLLLLP!”

* * *

 

Everything remains tranquil and mundane in the cafe with relaxing bossa nova music playing in the background.

Daehwi is anxiously waiting for his date alone, crossing and uncrossing his legs frequently. He checks the time with his watch again when a voice coming from his back suddenly pops up.

“Ong…Ong Seongwoo-shi?”

Almost forgetting that he is, supposedly, Seongwoo for the moment, Daehwi slowly turns his head around after a delay. In front of him, to his utmost astonishment, is a genuine lookalike of  _Syaoran Li_  from  _Cardcaptor Sakura,_ his childhood anime crush.

“Yes, hello,” answers Daehwi with a shy smile, holding out his hand for a handshake, even though he cannot help but fixate his eyes on his date's face.

His date, strangely, does not return this gesture. He stiffly bows at Daehwi before politely asking Daehwi to take a seat.

“Hi, in…in case you forgot,” Daehwi’s date mutters softly as he takes the seat opposite to Daehwi, jigging his leg at the same time, “my name is Bae Jinyoung, but…but please just call me Jinyoung.”

“Jinyoung,” replies Daehwi, “so your profile says you look like…uh”

“I…I know what you mean,” Jinyoung politely interrupts, “the coordinator strongly urges me fill in the form with how I look like an anime character.”

Daehwi fervently nods his head.

“But…but I don’t think in that way,” continues Jinyoung with darting eyes, “I don’t think I look good.”

“Please don’t underrate yourself,” Daehwi soothes, secretly thinking Jinyoung actually looks reallycute with his behaviour, “even though sometimes I cannot help but think in that way also.”

“No…No way,” trills Jinyoung, still avoiding eye contacts of any kind by staring at the table, “you…you must be a lot of people’s ideal type.”

Daehwi remains his gaze on Jinyoung, even though he is caught off-guard by the compliment from his date, who suddenly stares at Daehwi’s eyes for a second before resuming his blank stare on the table and stutters,

“me…me included.”

-

 

“HELLLLLLP!”

Minutes have passed and Seongwoo has lost count on how many times he has screamed. He cannot do so with full strength anymore, not because he is out of energy, but the pain in his abdomen will sharply escalate to an unbearable level if he does.

Standing straight also becomes increasingly strenuous. He jerks his head slightly forward and leans on the cubicle door, banging the door for help at the same time.

“Sir, is everything okay?” A male voice, together with a tap from the other side of the cubicle door, suddenly emerges.

“Can you ask someone for help? The door is jammed!” Seongwoo yells. Being stuck in this predicament for god-knows-how-long, the voice sounds nothing less than a joyful Christmas carol in Swongwoo’s ears.

“Sure, hold on,” replies the stranger, as Seongwoo hears footsteps gradually further away from him, “I’ll go out and find someone who works here, hang in there.”

“Thanks,” Seongwoo answers with a sigh of relief while he places both hands on his stomach, leaning on the cubicle door for support.

* * *

 

Daehwi can distinctively feel a burning sensation on his cheeks after hearing that he is Jinyoung’s ideal type, but he knows he cannot confirm it with his hands now when he hears Jinyoung stutters again, breaking the silence.

“uh…uh…I am sorry if I seem so nervous, and awkward. My brother always says I…I am too introverted, and also socially inapt, I guess you feel that way too,” explains Jinyoung as his eyes continues to fleet.

Daehwi draws his mouth into a line curved slightly upwards and bites his lowering lip, trying to convey that he is actually comfortable with Jinyoung’s anxiety.

In fact, he finds his anxiety, coupled with his honesty, extremely adorable.

“Don’t worry, I am a freelance writer who has no colleagues, so I don’t have a lot of friends either. Some of them are not even in Bu….Seoul, yeah, most of them live out of Seoul. And, by the way, I am nervous too, you know, meeting a new person can be nerve-wrecking.”

“I know right?,” replies Jinyoung with a smile of relief, slowly recovering from his stutter after finding great comfort in knowing the feeling of nervousness is actually mutual, “I…I am always like that when I first meet someone, especially when…when I find that person cute. That’s why I couldn’t even bring myself to shake your hand just then when we met, I…I hope you don't mind.”

Daehwi shakes his head with a smile, feeling his pulse thrumming in a faster pace.

“My career does not help in this aspect also,” continues Jinyoung with a hint of gloom, “cause I am becoming a certified medical examiner, which means my daily duties involve dead people mostly. I…I guess that’s why I don’t have many friends. Probably that’s why….I don’t have any substantial dating experiences either.”

Secretly, Daehwi is surprised by how his handsome date has never dated. He is about to tell him about how his dating experiences are also short-lived when Jinyoung suddenly leans in and slowly utters, “that’s why if…if we become  _boyfriends,_ I…I must be the dull one, who stays at home a lot after work, will you think I’m such a clingy nuisance?”

Daehwi swears the air near him condenses, and there is an overload of signals fierily passing through all the synapses in his brain following what Jinyoung has asked, resulting in his temporary speechlessness. He knows Jinyoung’s question is discordant with a normal flow of conversation on a first date, yet he cannot help but picture their pleasingly boring and domesticated life where they cuddle on the sofa watching television in his mind.

Swallowing hard after a short pause, Daehwi replies sheepishly with his head shaking, while feeling his heart thrumming almost to life, “not…not at all. I’m a writer, remember? I work at home. I guess we…we can be clingy nuisances together?”

Expecting Jinyoung will form a smile (or at least a sign of relief) on his face, Daehwi is baffled to see his date close his eyes tightly and mumble to himself upon hearing the response. Then, after taking a big breath in, Jinyoung suddenly stands up with a stomp and moves next to Daehwi’s seat.

“Look," says Jinyoung with a heaving chest, "you have to trust me that I am using every inch of my courage in my body when I say this, okay? I…I know this is absolutely crazy, and I…I don’t even know if asking you now is the best idea, but you are the perfect date I have always imagined, because you make me feel comfortable, but my heart still beats faster whenever I look at you. I l-like you, a lot.” 

Daehwi immediately realises how frozen his body has become after the five words from his date. He can only twitch a stiff and awkward nod in response, for how he certainly reciprocates the affection and how unprecedentedly close he is to believe that there truly is love at first sight.  Before Daehwi can verbally respond to him, however, Jinyoung kneels down with his gaze locked into Daehwi’s eyes, who then holds out his visibly clammy hand and asks,

“would you be my boyfriend?”  


* * *

 

On the other side, Seongwoo is completely unaware of how Daehwi is being drowned in the river of love inside the cafe at the moment.

The only thing he knows is he will be in a  _literally shitty_  situation if the man does not come back with help in a minute.  He could feel his insides are on the verge of explosion.

“Hey.”

The stranger finally returns to the washroom for a time longer than he has hoped and he knocks on the cubicle door, “I have told the staff, just hold on for a second.”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but can you ask them to hurry?” Seongwoo grumbles while he can feel he is sweating, “I can’t hold on for one more second, I…I really need to go to the washroom, like real quick.”

“Sorry, but aren’t you exactly in a washroom?” questions the man outside the door.

“I…I dropped my phone in the toilet _,_ if I pee or poop in it, my phone will be done,” Seongwoo yelps as his voice starts to shake, “god, why am I elaborating this.”

“ _Ohhhh_ , I see,” answers the man as he leans on the other side of the cubicle door, “sorry if the transition is awkward, but do you come from Busan? I can hear it from your accent.”

“IS IT THE TIME FOR THIS?” Seongwoo bristles in utter agitation before he realises he should not react so vehemently, as the pain suddenly sharpens, “yeah, I was born in Incheon but I moved to Busan. Oh god, no, don’t talk to me for now,  _please_.”

Seongwoo secretly wishes the stranger would stand further from the cubicle door because even just to leak an audible fart feels agonisingly odd now. An awkward silence then transpires the mildly foul-smelling atmosphere of the washroom for a few seconds before another man rushes in with what seems to be a key in his hand.

“Oh hey, the staff is here, stand back,” warns the man upon seeing the staff.

As soon as Seongwoo takes a step back, the staff unlocks the door with a breeze.  Seongwoo can only violently nod his head with furrowed eyebrows as a way to show his gratitude. He immediately clumps over to the next cubicle in order to emancipate himself from the unbearable pain, having no energy to spare a thought about how his phone is still left in the toilet next door.

 -

 

Another 15 minutes have passed.

Even if one tortures Seongwoo, he will deny he has flushed the toilet more than three times before he feels it is clean. With a sigh, he opens the door and steps into the next cubicle in order to “retrieve” his mobile in the toilet bowl.

But it is not there.

Perplexed, he quickly walks towards the washroom entrance, trying to find any of the staff in the cafe and ask if someone has picked it up.

What stands in front of Seongwoo when he opens the entrance door, however, is the man who first contacted him when he was stuck in the cubicle, holding a transparent plastic bag in his hand that contains what seems to be Seongwoo’s phone.

Without saying anything, he hands the phone together with the plastic bag to Seongwoo.

“Thanks,” Seongwoo says with a bright smile. If he ever has to choose, he may rather touch corrosive acid instead of toilet water.

“Don’t mention it,” replies the man, as he gestures Seongwoo to walk along with him back to the cafe.

After a few more steps, however, Seongwoo can see from afar that something is wrong.

 

Daehwi’s seat is empty.

“ _Wait_ ,” utters Seongwoo, skidding to a stop as he turns his face to the man, “my friend is not here.”

Seongwoo then quickly sprints towards the female staff closest to him while the man follows. He asks, pointing at Daehwi’s table, “excuse me, have you seen the boy with blonde hair sitting there?”

“Oh, another guy, his boyfriend maybe, carried him in his arms and they left together. Everyone here can be a witness. Such a sweet scene.”

“What? No! They just met!” Seongwoo gasps.

A pause of silence ensues from all parties before Seongwoo realises there is yet also another problem.

“FUCK!” yells Seongwoo, smacking a palm into his forehead.

“Something else happened?” asks the man, confused by the strong but delayed reaction from Seongwoo.

“I gave my bag to my friend before I went to the washroom. My wallet, my keys, my T-money card, literally _everything_ I have," grunts Seongwoo with waving arms, "is with him now.  _Oh fuck me._ ” 

“Calm down, don’t panic,” soothes the man, “do you need my phone to call him? I guess yours is not working now.”

-

 

Seongwoo is calling the 10th time but Daehwi is not picking up his phone.

While Seongwoo is slightly worried about his safety as a friend, following what the staff (and other customers) told him, he thinks he can safely assume that Daehwi is just too soaked up in having his time-of-his-life with his blind date, or newfound love, or new boyfriend.

“Still can’t reach him?”

Seongwoo shakes his head. He is now on the front passenger seat next to the man, who offers him a drive back home after seeing how he has no money at all.

 

With all the fuss happened back in the cafe, Seongwoo did not even bother to take anything more than a glance of the man. But now, with the profile of the man’s face in front of Seongwoo, he finds the man to be quite handsome with his monolids and fox-like features, not to mention how impressively helpful he is.

“Anyway, thank you so much,” expresses Seongwoo with genuine gratefulness, “you saved me twice in a day.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” replies the man casually, “we’ll be reaching Cheongdam-dong in 5 minutes, but if your keys still in your friend’s, do you have a spare one when you get home?”

“Oh,  _right_ ,” Seongwoo exclaims, “umm…can you drive me to the Innisfree near Gangnam station then? My flatmate and I work there, he will have one.”

“The flagship one? Sure, we are even closer from there,” responds the man, who switches lanes right after, “by the way, what’s your name actually?”

“Oh, Ong Seongwoo. Just call me Seongwoo will be fine, you?”

“Minhyun, Huang Minhyun. Wow, Ong? Such a rare surname, I have never met anyone with it actually, kinda makes me jealous for how common my name is,” answers the man enthusiastically, “by the way, I should apologise though, for asking whether you come from Busan when you are clearly suffering, you know, I also come from Busan, and I don’t get to meet a lot of people who come from there in Seoul, so I kinda get carried away.”

“Well, truly, you were  _horrible_  at that moment,” Seongwoo sasses, to which Minhyun responds with a wheeze, “while my heart has fully forgiven you for how much you have helped me, my mouth will insist I haven’t so, if you don’t answer me one thing.”

“What is it?” asks Minhyun with curiosity.

“I just need a place to repair my phone, any recommendations?”

“Oh,  _phew_ , I thought you are asking me for something hefty,” replies Minhyun, “actually, I worked at Samsung, you know, your phone's brand. So the easiest way, if you don’t mind, is to give me your phone and I’ll send it to repairs. The line for staff is much faster and it’s cheaper.”

Seeing how his phone was completely drenched in water and there seems to be nothing to lose anyway, Seongwoo immediately agrees, “yeah, I’m counting on you then.”

“Great, and here we are,” Minhyun’s car gradually comes to a stop after a turn as they arrive at the Innisfree in Gangnam, “oh, take out your Sim card before you give me your phone.”

Seongwoo nods his head and stares at the phone in the plastic bag on his thighs, realising that he  _really_  would rather touch corrosive acid instead of toilet water. Yet he now has to touch the latter if he is to do what Minhyun has just said.

“Umm…so,” Seongwoo starts hesitantly, “were you the one who reached the toilet to get the phone  _with your own hands_?”

“Yeah, why?” Minhyun confirms, as he turns his head and stares at Seongwoo.

“So,” replies Seongwoo, holding the two handles of the plastic bag with each hand, facing Minhyun, “if I ask you touch it again now, it won’t make a big difference…, I guess?”

Minhyun responds with a smile, understanding that Seongwoo wants him to take the Sim card out for him.

“Thanks,” answers Seongwoo as he hands the plastic bag to Minhyun, “I’m kind of a hygiene freak, using the public washroom is the most I can do.”

“Nah, don’t worry,” Minhyun swiftly removes the Sim card and hands it back to Seongwoo, “here you go.”

* * *

 

Life gets slightly harder for Seongwoo who has no phone for two days.

His work, all of a sudden, does not seem to be inherently boring when the alternative is to stay at home doing absolutely nothing.

He is now skiving off from work in the storeroom at his store, swatching new lip tint colours to be released next week on his forearm to kill time.

“Manager-nim,” Youngmin knocks the door and comes in with a brighter-than-usual smile, “one of the customers wants to see you.”

“Just give her or him the customer complaint hotline, or pacify them with some large-sized samples, or both perhaps?” replies Seongwoo dully without looking at Youngmin, staring instead at the orange lip tint on his forearm that he finds disgusting.

“ _Manager-nim~_ ,” it is Jisung’s turn who suddenly comes in with a wry smirk, “someone wants to see you.”

Seongwoo is alarmed by how Jisung satirically addresses him as “ _manager-nim_ ”. Something is definitely out of the ordinary. He strolls towards the storefront to see who that customer is.

 

It is Minhyun.

“Hi,” greets Minhyun, “remember me?”

“Of course,” replies Seongwoo with a wheeze, wilfully ignoring Jisung who is lurching behind Minhyun’s back, staring with Seongwoo with the same wry smrik again, “you just pass by? Or?”

“No,” answers Minhyun, handing Seongwoo his phone at the same time, “your phone was ready to be picked up this morning, but then I realise I don't have your contacts at all and the only thing I know is you work here, so I just crash here to see by chance if it is your shift.”

“Oh god, thank you, how much do I owe you?” asks Seongwoo, feeling mildly sorry for constantly receiving help from Minhyun in occasions more than he remembers.

“Don’t worry, forget it,” Minhyun smiles with a wave of his hand.

“No, I have to repay you. Name one way,” insists Seongwoo, assuring the necessity to return Minhyun’s benevolence.

As soon as Minhyun tilts his head to think about the choices he has and turns silent, Seongwoo notices that Jisung, who was originally behind Minhyun, starts walking towards his direction, seemingly heading to the storeroom behind.

Right when Jisung walks pass Seongwoo, however, without turning his face to his friend or slowing down, he blurts out with a nonchalant tone, “ _repay with your pants off~_ ”

Seongwoo immediately turns his head around to give his classic death stare to Jisung, who is now giggling by the storeroom entrance. To his complete disbelief, he also sees Youngmin and Woojin next to Jisung, joining the mocking snigger.

“ **FUCK~OFF~** ,” mouths Seongwoo to Jisung with widened eyes. The three then joyously storms into the storeroom with audible giggles.

Seongwoo takes a mental note that he will not schedule the three in the same shift anymore if he is not present, or the two pure souls will only be further contaminated. He then turns his head back to face Minhyun again, who is darting his eyes to the right and fidgeting, acting as if he could not hear what Jisung has uttered.

“Um…” Seongwoo tries to break the silence while he flips his hair, “how about I buy you a meal or a dinner or some food?”

“Sounds good,” Minhyun nods his head, “what about tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” agrees Seongwoo, “my shift ends at 7.”

“Great! I work nearby actually, so I’ll pick you up here at 7:15?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“See you then!” Minhyun waves goodbye before he turns around and gets in his car parked right outside the store.

 

Immediately after Minhyun is gone, Jisung, Youngmin and Woojin rushes to Seongwoo with smug smiles.

“So he is the toilet guy you talked about last night?” asks Jisung with waggling eyebrows.

“ _R_ _epay with my pants off_? Fuck you Yoon Jisung! At least say it after he left!”

“Don’t you want to?” Jisung teasingly asks.

“Want your ass!”

“Not mine, please. He wants  _your_  ass. I can feel it, vice versa,” retorts Jisung, to which Youngmin and Woojin nods.

“Assistant manager-nim always says that Manager-nim once had a higher turnover rate than some of our products here. Now I finally understand what does he mean,” follows Woojin.

Seongwoo gives yet another death stare to Jisung, who is now laughing uncontrollably.

“Oh,  _come on_ , Seongwoo darling. I am happy for you,” Jisung taps Seongwoo’s shoulder, recovering from his laughter, “but you do have good eyes, now I won't believe that you don’t care about looks, and he has a stable job and a Maserati. Jackpot right here!”

“ _Bitch please_ , I know I look good too, I have a stable job, and I have a Type 1 driving license for lorries.  We are just having a dinner as _friends_ , we don't even know if he is gay,” Seongwoo weakly defends, “if someone picks up your phone from a public washroom, will you at least do something to repay him? I can introduce him to you if you think he looks good.”

“No, keep him, you need something to moisturise your drying soul inside you.”

“Well you also definitely need something to exorcise the evil spirit inside you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. If you are interested in knowing what the endgame is before the end, please visit my long-dormant tumblr. The only post there is the one that indicates the endgame of this story. I don't want to post it here because I guess there are people that don't want to be spoiled about what happens next :) (This is will appear on every chapter from now on because I also put it on the endnote of the preface)
> 
> https://sleepytimesleepy.tumblr.com/
> 
> 2\. I actually get the resemblance between Bae Jinyoung and Syaoran Li in Cardcaptor Sakura (one of my favourite anime when I was young) from Twitter^^. Please google it if the anime (or the resemblance) is new to you. Highly recommend the anime even though it's like 10 years since it's released!?
> 
> 3\. Every time I complete a chapter I think "this is going to be the hardest one to write", but then the next chapter always proves me wrong. Daehwi and Jinyoung's (over-the-top-awkward-fluffy) story part is by the far the most challenging part for me. So hard to strike a balance between being corny and being fluffy. Forgive me for the increasing time intervals between each update, even though I feel like, correspondingly, my update gets longer and longer? LOL. Hopefully that compensates.
> 
> 4\. Thank you for all the comments. One of them says the characters here all come with "questionable morals". That's what this story intends to show but my stupid ass does not have this phrase in my vocabulary. I'm glad one of the readers describes my mind so neatly. Thank you.
> 
> 5\. I don't think I will have many comments anyway but please refrain from spoiling the endgame in your comments in case you have read it. Other than that, I definitely welcome comments. They are by far the best motivator for me to update soon.
> 
>  
> 
> 6\. Will definitely beta soon because the sentences in this chapter remain to be too wordy. My bad.
> 
> Sorry for the wordy endnote. Thank you for your tolerance. XOXO


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed update. will beta soon. Thank you for your tolerance.

“What are you guys gonna have for the night?” Jisung asks Seongwoo curiously.

“I don’t know, we texted this morning, I was like I am fine with everything as long as it tastes good, then he’s like he’ll think about it,” Seongwoo replies casually as he puts on his beige sweater.

It is approaching the end of Seongwoo’s shift and he is getting ready in the storeroom for the dinner date with Minhyun. Jisung is sitting next to him, skiving off from work by playing with the make-up brushes nearby.

“Well, he himself is good food for your appetite anyway,” Jisung jeers with a smirk (and Seongwoo gives him the classic death stare), “by the way, that’s not the best look you have pulled off recently, where is your killer choker? How come you are not saving that for today?”

“Meh…, he probably won’t mind how I look anyway, we met in a washroom when I was in my absolute worst, remember?” answers Seongwoo with the same causal attitude, styling his hairwith a mirror, “and, as I have said, he could be straight.”

“Then he’s an offensively helpful and caring straight guy who sends wrong signals to all four gaydars here in this store, yours included,” asserts Jisung, pointing his finger at Seongwoo.

“Sorry, no, I think he can be straight,” Seongwoo coldly rejects.

“Yeah, bitch, I trust you, you say this every time you go on a date with a new guy,” Jisung ridicules indignantly, walking towards the storeroom exit to take a peek of the storefront, “oh, speaking of the devil, your  _straight friend_  is here, have fun.”

* * *

 

Minhyun’s place looks exactly like how Seongwoo pictured, horrendously tidy and minimalistic.

“This is nice,” Seongwoo comments mindfully, as he actually finds it slightly disconcerting to see someone’s apartment almost showroom-like, not to mention he is unsure of why he is brought here for their dinner.

“Nah, it’s a service apartment rented by my company for me, I don’t do all the cleaning, ain’t nobody got time for that, haha,” replies Minhyun as he closes the front door.

“I see,” Seongwoo responds, feeling somewhat relieved to see Minhyun show a relatable side.

“Anything you want to drink? Sauvignon Blanc? Or you want something less dry? Riesling?” asks Minhyun, heading to the kitchen.

“Yes,” replies Seongwoo obscurely as he sits by the dining table, having no idea what Minhyun was talking about as a person who prefers beer.

“You probably wonder why you are here, well, you said you are fine with anything that tastes good, so I wrecked my brain to come up with a good place in Seoul,” says Minhyun, stripping off his shirt for work to his sleeveless undershirt before putting on his apron and filling up two wine glasses of Riesling, “but then I was like, who will be a better cook than someone who lives alone for so many years ever since college?”

Seongwoo wants to protest against Minhyun’s rhetorical question by telling him that instant ramen is the only food he has learnt to cook for all the years in college (and also how he is supposed to pay for the meal). Before he opens his mouth, however, Minhyun turns his head to face Seongwoo and interjects, “just to make sure, any food allergies?”

Seongwoo shakes his head.

“Great, let me see…” replies Minhyun, submerging his head into the refrigerator afterwards.

 

Seongwoo cannot lie, Minhyun is dangerously hot when he is completely concentrated on preparing the meal.

He never knew someone could exude such confidence and grace simply by flipping pasta in a saucepan. Of course, Minhyun being sleeveless definitely adds weight to how aesthetically pleasing the scene is. He blames the alcohol for how his stares on Minhyun's arms become more and more immodest for the whole time.

“It smells very nice,” Seongwoo utters after taking a large gulp of his white wine, feeling his mouth watering from the aroma of chilli pepper and garlic that gradually saturates the air.

“I like good food, well, even though on second thought, who doesn’t? and I like to reward myself with it after a day of hard work. It's just most of the time shops are closed when I can finally leave my office, so I get to develop and polish my cooking skills from college,” answers Minhyun as he moves the pasta onto a plate, “anyway, you ready?”

Seongwoo nods and sits up straight upon hearing the question while Minhyun carries the two plates onto the dining table, also handing Seongwoo a fork.

“This is super good,” says Seongwoo with joy after he takes a big bite, paying absolutely no attention Minhyun’s intense stares, “what kind of sauce is this?”

“Japanese cod roe sauce, or mentaiko sauce, depends on how you want to name it. It’s been a long time since I cooked anything with this, cause it comes as packets with a portion for 2 people each, and it’s been _ages_ since there are any guests here,” replies Minhyun, remaining his gaze on Seongwoo with no intention to pick up his fork for his dinner, “glad you find it super tasty, I always eat alone, you know, which sets a cap on how delicious the food tastes.”

Seongwoo nods his head eagerly, acting as if he is paying attention to Minhyun’s words when all his sensory cells are in fact overwhelmed by the delectable pasta in his mouth.

Seeing how Seongwoo is immersed in finishing the food, Minhyun picks up his fork with a smile and starts eating.

“Hey, mind if I ask you a question?” says Seongwoo in between the bites, “I hope this won’t affect your appetite, haha, but why did you pick up the phone for me back then?”

“Well, I simply don’t want you to,” answers Minhyun after a moment of pause, pushing the pasta around on his plate, “I guess it has to do with how I learnt that you also come from Busan, and I can relate perfectly with how tiring it is to deal with everything by yourself in a foreign city. You know, starting everything afresh, anchoring yourself in this cosmopolitan, yadi-yadi-yada. I just hope I can at least offer help in some occasions.”

“You offered great help, trust me,” Seongwoo assures.

“Well, I probably can’t help much in other more important aspects, but I am pleased to hear that I am at least of assistance in trivial matters, you know, no one should do everything by himself," replies Minnyun as he scoops a few strands between the tines of the fork, "we are societal animals, after all."

“You are super nice,” answers Seongwoo while he tries to swallow the last bite of the pasta in his mouth, “thank you.”

“That’s weird, I rarely get compliments like this,” Minhyun mutters as he pivots his body closer to Seongwoo.

“ _Bitc_ …, I mean, no way,” Seongwoo shoots back instantly with a grin before taking another large gulp of wine.

“Yeah, it’s the first time someone told me this ever since I started working…I guess? Wow, it’s been 3 years,” Minhyun contemplates, tilting his head to stare at the ceiling before fixating his gaze at Seongwoo.

Seongwoo wants to respond, but he can tell Minhyun has not finished his sentence.

“I guess it’s because I’m only nice to people that I like.”

* * *

 

“I am disappointed, it’s just, what, 11:00?” asks Jisung immediately after Seongwoo steps into their home.

“Gees, can you fucking turn on the lights if you are here?” retorts Seongwoo before he presses the switch.

What Seongwoo then sees is Jisung lying on the sofa with a facial mask and cucumbers on each of his eyes, together with two more people lying on the floor, similarly with facial masks and cucumbers.

“What are you two doing here?” asks Seongwoo, pointing at Woojin and Youngmin on the floor.

“Assistant Manager-nim invited us here for a sleepover because he thought, and we thought too, that you wouldn’t be back tonight, so we can spend the night here talking about work and our love life,” replies Woojin as he continues to lie on the floor.

“Whatever,” Seongwoo pouts, walking back to his room, “as long as you guys don’t bitch about me when you guys bitch about work.”

“How did your date go, darling?” asks Jisung, sitting up from the sofa after taking his facial masks and cucumbers off from his face, “did you get to eat something else other than dinner?”

“I suppose you mean dessert, and I won’t accept other answers, and the answer is no,” Seongwoo drawls passively as he trots to the kitchen for water.

“So nothing happened?” asks Jisung again across the room.

“Well, he walked me home, and…uh….we kinda hold hands?” Seongwoo mentally praises himself for being sober enough to withhold information, fearing that giving any more details would mean overreactions from the trio.

“What do you mean by  _kinda hold hand_ s, you guys either did hold hands, or you didn’t, unless you are telling me that you two did a pinky swear,” Jisung remarks as he runs his hands through his hair in irritation.

“ _FINE_ , we hold hands when he walked me back, okay? And we goodbye-kissed, and I also considered inviting him here for a nightcap but then I was like,  _no, Jisung the nosy bitch can be here_ ,” Seongwoo bursts out suddenly, realising that Jisung will not stop asking if juicy details are not given, “I don’t fucking know. He is cute, and hot. That's given. And he is mature and staid for his age too, but that makes him seem kinda...boring at times?  Like you know, he’s a stereotypical salaryman, graduated from Seoul University, recruited by Samsung straight out of college, and started working ever since.”

“Are you implying that our existence indirectly cock-blocks you?” asks Jisung, completely ignoring the second half of Seongwoo’s blabber.

“Tsk. Fuck you. That’s not the whole point of what i just said, and, no, I don’t fuck on first dates, because I don’t fall in love with my dick. I fall in love with my heart and my mind,” grunts Seongwoo, finishing his cup of water.

“Don’t be mad, Manager-nim, we just care about you, Assistant Manager-nim cares about you the most,” soothes Woojin as he sits up, letting the cucumbers from his eyes fall off.

“If you guys do care about me, let me sleep, okay? Enjoy your sleepover but bitch about your work and boyfriends with a softer voice. I'm too old for sleepover, at least my soul is, and I got another date tomorrow morning.”

“What?” all the other three gasps at the same time.

“A date with another  _friend_ ,” Seongwoo responds as he rolls his eyes, walking back to his room, “Contrary to popular beliefs, I am NOT friendless, Good night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 what I had in my mind when I first started this fic is chapters with the length like this one. It's easier for me to proofread and I think longer chapters can be very gruelling (for me, as both a writer and a reader). But then sometimes the chapter does not reach the ending point in my mind and it just goes on and on orz. With this length, Hopefully I can update another chapter during the weekend.
> 
> 2\. I am thinking about lengthening the summary of this work cause I feel like the one now does not even explain 2% of what the fic is about? Anyway I just want to give heads-up to anyone reading this who may start wondering why the summary keeps on changing from now on LOL. (Same applies to the tags and chapter name - yes I always wanted to name my chapters but my dull-witted ass does not allow me to do so)
> 
> Thank you for your tolerance. XOXO.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. Will beta soon, have to go out now. Get ready for questionable morals...? I don't know. Thank you for your tolerance.

“I can’t see you,” says Seongwoo through the phone, “I am right inside the restaurant.”

“I’m sitting near the corner furthest from the front door, next to the washroom. I’m waving at you.”

“What? Where?” Seongwoo cranes his neck and repeatedly turns his head left and right.

It took Seongwoo a few more seconds to locate the one on the other side of the phone, who is waving tentatively with his fingers.

“Oh, _bitch please_ , you call this waving?” hisses Seongwoo, “how can someone spot you without your pink hair?”

 

It is Daniel, who is wearing a black baseball cap with his black thick-rimmed glasses on.

 

“You are the one who is kidding. Out of all places for brunch, you chose the one in Oido?” Daniel blusters as he squirms in his chair, turning his head around to take a scan of the customers nearby on other tables, "what’s so fancy about it?"

“It’s very famous for its avocado toast on Instagram,” Seongwoo answers calmly.

Daniel only hums in response as he slumps in his chair with a noticeable exhale, blankly staring at the menu.

The two sit in silence for a moment. Seongwoo knows he is going to order avocado toast anyway, even though he also focused on the menu. In his mind, yet, he is piecing the puzzles together from Daniel’s obvious unease and his deliberate act of hiding his pink hair.

 

And the conclusion reached by Seongwoo weirdly makes his heart leap with joy.

 

“Jihoon lives nearby,” asserts Seongwoo out of the blue.

Daniel lifts his head and narrows his eyes from the menu to Seongwoo, whose face crinkles into a smug smile.

“Does he?” Seongwoo assuringly asks, holding the same smile.

Refusing to feed Seongwoo triumph, Daniel ignores Seongwoo’s question and takes out his phone to reply his texts, “I’m ready, can we order?”

“What now, checking in with Jihoon?” taunts Seongwoo as his eyes shoots at Daniel’s phone, eyebrows twitching victoriously.

“can we order _now_?” Daniel rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, sure,” Seongwoo cannot help but leak a beam from ear to ear as he raises his hand for a waiter.

-

 

“Your hair is getting even longer,” Daniel informs Seongwoo benignly before taking a messy bite of the avocado toast, ignoring how, to Seongwoo’s dismay, bread crumbs fall all over the table.

“I was about to ask you not to eat your toast before I take a photo, but too late. Yeah, I was supposed to get a haircut yesterday night, but then, um…,” Seongwoo leans back slightly to get his phone from his skinny jeans, buying himself some time to come up with an excuse, “something just came up from work, so maybe later.”

“Is that your new phone?” asks Daniel, surprised to see Seongwoo’s phone look completely unscratched.

“Nah, it was broken and I sent it to Samsung. They revamped the whole thing, and I guess they still retained the parts inside that are still usable? I don’t know,” replies Seongwoo as he holds his phone directly above his avocado toast in order to get a flat-lay photo, “most of my older photos and videos are gone. Not exactly a bad thing though, you know, it frees some space for other more useless photos like the one I’m taking. ”

“What? How long has that been?” asks Daniel as he puts down his toast on the plate, staring at Seongwoo.

“A few days?” answers Seongwoo, finally taking the first bite of the toast.

“Do you know they have full access to all your files when you sent your phone to repairs?” Daniel asks stiffly.

“Yeah, then?”

Daniel does not respond instantly. Instead, He leers at Seongwoo as he tucks his chin, almost touching his chest.

“Then is **_it_** deleted before you sent your phone to Samsung,” Daniel growls lowly with his leer staying on Seongwoo’s eyes.

“Delete…what?” replies Seongwoo as his eye contact with Daniel becomes shifty, deliberately making crunching sounds with the toast in his mouth to hide his laugh,.

“Have you deleted _our video?_ ” questions Daniel as he lifts his head up and also stifles a laugh, “quit your act, gees, you know what I am talking about.”

“What video?” Seongwoo pouts his lips, putting his hands over his chest and shaking his head dramatically in order to act innocent, “I don’t get what you mean.”

“You know what I mean, is _it_ deleted?” Daniel slowly drawls out with a nervous laughter as he leans forward and tilts his head with his eyebrow raised.

“Yes, it is,” answers Seongwoo before he rests his chin on his hand with a bemused smile, “the fact is, it has never been in this phone but in my old one, and I have switched phones for like, 4 months? You dumbass.”

“Where is your old phone then?” Daniel instantaneously follows-up.

“I _deleted_ the video, okay? And I erased all contents and settings before selling that phone just to reconfirm it’s gone," assuages Seongwoo before he takes a big bite of the toast with a smile, "I don't want it to leak either, I was in it too, so don’t worry."

Daniel lets out a huge breath and picks up his avocado toast again before Seongwoo continues, “I have to be honest though, I forgot if I deleted _it_ before or after I migrate all my files from my old phone to my laptop, so I may have accidentally backed it up.”

“Tsk, Ong Seongwoo,” Daniel snarls mildly as he dumps his toast heavily on his plate, eyebrows furrowed, “that night you _promised_ you will delete it once I’m back from my Jeju business trip. You told me you want to film it just for the week I was not in Busan.”

“I did delete it! It’s just I forgot if I have backed it up in my laptop.”

“Where is your laptop,” Daniel asks coldly.

“Home, duh.”

“I don’t care. I have to make sure no single copy exists.”

“How?”

-

 

Turns out, the video was deleted before Seongwoo backed up his files.

Yet, this means Daniel and Seongwoo have sat in front of the laptop, scrolling through all photos and other videos they have taken for their 2 years together, an emotionally draining journey for both of them, to say the least.

“Well, there is a positive side about this,” Daniel utters lifelessly as he lounges on the sofa while Seongwoo stands up to get some water from the kitchen.

“And it is…?” Seongwoo asks groggily.

“The clip is nowhere to be found anymore.”

“Wow, thank you so much for your vigilance that no one demands,” replies Seongwoo sarcastically as he returns to the sofa, almost sinking into it, “I told you I have deleted it.”

Daniel is well aware that his thighs touch with Seongwoo’s in the middle seat after the latter returns, something that neither of them do not seem to care. 

The two of them sit there for a while in a surprisingly comfortable silence, until Daniel suddenly thinks it is the appropriate time to be honest in such a laid-back atmosphere.

“You know,” Daniel starts as he lets his head fall back onto the cushion behind him, “I kinda doubt if you really didn't cut your hair yesterday night because of work. That’s an easy excuse that…uh…everyone can made.”

“What are you talking about? I am the Store Manager now, which means I’m busy as fuck,” Seongwoo weakly defends as he stands up again for another cup of water.

“Fine, let me cut to the chase then,” says Daniel defeatedly, “are you…are you seeing someone?”

“What about you then?” retorts Seongwoo before he quickly realises this is such a useless clapback. His ex-boyfriend is clearly dating someone, even though he is here with him in the apartment for an absolutely nonsensical reason.

“I’m the one asking.”

Seongwoo did not respond right after. He jogs to the sofa and sinks into it a second time (once again ignoring how his thighs touch with Daniel’s), fixating his gaze at Daniel with tightened lips for a moment before he firmly replies, “yes, I am.”

Daniel immediately lifts his head up from the cushion and darts his eyes to one side, but then, not before a significantly delay, he asks “who…who is he?”

“A guy,” answers Seongwoo nonchalantly.

“Tsk, come on…” Daniel slowly drawls out.

Seongwoo snorts before he retracts his legs from the middle seat and sits up straight, “well, he’s not an idol. Just a guy who works in Gangnam like you, perhaps you will bump into us one day when I am having lunch with him.” .

Daniel chooses not to ask further, even though he wishes Seongwoo would be less reluctant to answer his questions. Seeing how Seongwoo’s posture changes, he also retracts his legs, with a cushion between his arms.

There goes another comfortable silence between them, one that even Seongwoo is stunned by how pleasant it is for him - the familiar peace after friendly teases and sarcastic remarks between them, the carefree atmosphere in which he could relax, the way they used to laze on the sofa.

This was exactly the pleasingly mundane way they usually spent their weekends.

Before he can fully indulge himself in the recollections, however, he hears Daniel drop a bomb,

“why…why did you leave me back then.”

Even though Daniel’s question sounds more like a yearn than an inquiry, Seongwoo does not recognise it _long after_ he answers with a pinched expression, “I beg your pardon? Do you seriously need to ask?”

Daniel agilely sits up straight and moves to the middle seat, “look, I really had to work that day. I wasn't the boss and I can’t re-schedule, but I didn’t want to miss the beach party with your friends, you know?”

“That’s just the tipping point. A lot of things happened, ” replies Seongwoo as he turns his head to face the front and loses his eye contact with Daniel.

“Like what.”

“You forgot my mom’s birthday,” utters Seongwoo calmly.

“That really was because I was too immersed into my job, and I sincerely apologise. You can ask your mum, I bought her a present afterwards to repent my sin,” explains Daniel as he faces Seongwoo, who continues to avoid any eye contact.

“You planned to come to Seoul without me.”

“Oh, come on,” Daniel defends as he pouts his mouth, trying to act cute, “we were almost devoid of any communication during that time, I think you will agree that we would have talked about it if the beach party had not taken place.”

“You once told me you had a presentation the following day for an important client, so you had to stay at office and work late, but Minki saw you drinking with another man that night near Seomyeon.”

“ _WHAT_?” Daniel furrows his eyebrows immediately after hearing a brand new accusation from Seongwoo.

“ _Bitch please_ , stop pretending, we are no longer together anyway, and your acting is even shittier than mine," Seongwoo finally turns his head to Daniel and permits a contemptuous smile, “the fun thing is, I also don’t remember this until you told me how everyone uses their work as a convenient excuse.”

Daniel can only gape dumbly to Seongwoo with his mouth open while the latter continues, “Minki even took a picture.”

“What guy?” Daniel asks softly.

“Your ex, Jinwoo.” answers Seongwoo with an eerily peaceful tone.

Daniel blinks quickly, trying to recall which day was Seongwoo referring to. Jinwoo was Daniel's first high school puppy love, where they went no further than holding hands once during their time together.  He can only find Seongwoo's wariness almost comically disproportionate, but also oddly endearing.

“Remember now, huh?”

"I didn’t tell you only because I know all explanations will do no good but piss you off,” Daniel explains, "nothing happened."

“You could have told me if you had got nothing to hide,” retorts Seongwoo instantly.

“He just wanted to find an old friend to chat after studying abroad for college.  _Nothing happened._ I am sure your photo, if it still exists by now, captured nothing intimate between us, because we really were just chatting,” Daniel defends sternly.

“Well, be that as it may, but do you remember Daehwi? You are the one who insisted honesty is so important for his case, not me, now look at you. If there’s nothing between you and Jinwoo, why did you dread so much to tell me that you were meeting him?” Seongwoo strikes back with his talking speed escalating to almost machine-gun-like.

“Because even if nothing really happened that night, and I do believe that’s the case, you obviously expected something will. Or else why didn't you tell me about it? You are just keeping your options open,” continues Seongwoo with the same quick pace.

“You are just over-analysing, as always,” Daniel softly utters as he turns away from Seongwoo, knowing it is useless to argue with him in his mega-over-analysing form, even though his masochistic side still finds Seongwoo bizarrely lovely when he overthinks everything.

Simiarly, Seongwoo sits up straight again with his arms crossed after the long speech, also turning his head away from Daniel.

Daniel absolutely hates how pleasant the silence feels despite the swordplay-esque verbal exchanges they just had, with their legs less than 3 feet away after.

Worse still, he can tell that Seongwoo is also fully at ease with their lack of any communication by the grin on his face despite the chat where they disagreed with each other.

Yet another uncannily congenial silence between them.

A few seconds later, Seongwoo could feel a warmth trickling down from his left nostril.  Confused,he touches it without much thinking, and he finds his fingertip to be covered with red stains.

“Fuck.”

His nose is bleeding.

Alerted, Daniel immediately reaches the box of tissue paper on the coffee table and hands it to Seongwoo, “god, how did that happen?”

“It happens so often for me in Seoul, it’s so dry here,” mumbles Seongwoo as he tucks the tissue paper into his nostril.

“Must be my fault, I’m too hot,” replies Daniel, holding the tissue paper for Seongwoo near his nose while the latter reaches for more from the box.

“Fuck off already, it just means you watched too much anime,” Seongwoo scowls as he holds the tissue paper near his nose again.

“Give me your other hand,” Daniel requests, even though he is holding Seongwoo’s free hand already when he says so.

“For what?”

“Count for a minute,” Daniel informs, pinching the gap between Seongwoo’s thumb and his index finger.

“How, by heart?”

“Of course.”

A few seconds of silence follows. While Seongwoo can only blankly stare at the wall in front of him when he is counting mentally, Daniel cannot stop himself from peeping at Seongwoo’s face, finding him adorable with tissue papers tucked into one of his nostrils.

Another surge of nostalgic sentiments rushes into Daniel’s brain, one that Daniel blames how their hands are touching. He  licks his lips before he hastily mumbles, “imisya.”

Seongwoo slowly turns his head to face Daniel, “what?”

“imissyou,” Daniel quickly mutters again, licking his lips one more time.

“WHAT?”

“I. MISS. YOU,” yells Daniel.

Seongwoo cannot help but loosens into a big, exhilarated snort, one that pushes out the tissue papers from his nostril. His smile also flickers into one that is brighter than ever.

“Shut up already, you dumbass,” replies Seongwoo while he is trying his best to control his wide smile.

“Why am I a dumbass just for missing you?”

Seongwoo ignores him and closes his eyes, completely forgetting to count for a minute as he devotes all his energy to tighten his lips from forming a beam.

“See, it stopped,” notifies Daniel, releasing his pinch from Seongwoo’s hand to lounge on the sofa again, holding a cushion between his arms.

“This is witchcraft!” exclaims Seongwoo, as he dabs the area near his nostrils to confirm it, “how come? Is this traditional acupuncture? Did you watch Dae Jang Geum religiously when you were young?”

Daniel closes his eyes and pays no attention to Seongwoo’s shrieks, hiding himself behind the cushion in order to recover from the sudden burst of courage just then.

“Thank…thank you so much,” Seongwoo acknowledges, as he take a glimpse of the clock on the coffee table, “gosh, it's almost 4? I have to leave soon.”

Understanding that Seongwoo’s words imply he should also leave soon, Daniel stands up from the sofa and asks, “you’re meeting…the other guy?”

Seongwoo cannot respond promptly, for how Daniel describes Minhyun as the _other_ guy _._ He chooses to ignore Daniel’s choice of words for the moment and replies after a short pause, “we are having dinner tonight at his home.”

“I see, I’m glad we had a very heartfelt talk,” says Daniel as he puts on his shoes.

“Yeah,” Seongwoo answers, feeling slightly guilty of how, at times, he does not fully reciprocate Daniel’s sincerity, “but I think you are more glad to find out that the video is deleted.”

Daniel sends off a smile, “we got so many more photos and videos that recorded our…time anyway.”

“Yeah.”

Daniel opens the front door and prepares to leave. Right after he takes a step, he turns his head, gazing at Seongwoo intensely, and asks, “will you…also miss me?”

Seongwoo steps towards Daniel, whose face is far too close for his comfort. For a moment, it becomes exceedingly hard for both of them to move. Perhaps, it might even be easier for Seongwoo to savour the feeling of Daniel’s breath puffs warm against his face.

Seongwoo hesitates, but only long enough to locate Daniel’s swollen lips. He slightly lifts his head and leans in, touching Daniel's lips with his, a feeling so terrifying, but absolutely wonderful.

Instantly, he remembers he is going to see Minhyun in an hour. He retracts himself and eyes at Daniel, who also seems to share the terrifying-but-wonderful feeling.

“Bye,” utters Seongwoo as he turns his head away, holding the door.

“Bye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have to go out now. Will add notes later.  
> -  
> Edit:  
> 1\. We are reaching 50% of the fic, and that means we are finally going to reach the kinda-angsty part soon? Hurray ^^ (even though I have been repeatedly told that my fic was kinda angsty all along).
> 
> 2\. Thank you for the all the comments. I definitely appreciate them. They truly truly truly are the best motivators for me to update soon (I guess most writers here share the feeling).
> 
> 3\. Just for the record, Dae Jang Geum is a korean historical drama that was in 2003. It's a MUST-WATCH. My favourite korean drama when I was young.....er. I guess I am revealing how old I am here, but anyway.
> 
> Thank you for your tolerance. Will update soon. XOXO.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow update. I have no excuses. Sorry. Will beta soon.

“As a wrap-up, the key to our meeting next week remains to be our attitude,” Minhyun emphasises as he paces around the conference room with folding arms, “from a high-level perspective, we have the highest core competency among all our competitors, which obviously gives us leverage in terms of how the client views us.”

Everyone in the room nods their head, except Seongwoo, who is holding two boxes of takeaway in his hands, sitting at the corner.

“If we remain sincere, I believe they will select us even without much drilling down, our offer should be impeccable,” Minhyun says firmly as he presses both hands on the table, sweeping his eyes over the room, “good, there we have the last item of the agenda, is there anything else someone needs to say or ask before we conclude our briefing today?”

A few head shakes are seen, while some sitting at back start to pack their belongings.

“Great, I shall see you guys on Monday, then.”

-

Seongwoo dares not stand up and walk towards Minhyun until all other staff is gone.

“Hey,” greet Seongwoo with a bright smile, holding up the takeaway.

“Oh hey! Argh, I’m just so, so sorry. I know I promised to cook for our dinner, but the client wants to push the meeting forward to next week, so we gotta having our briefing today,” Minhyun explains with a smile as he packs his belongings, “I didn’t mean to have you sat in this semi-formal meeting, but I don’t want you to stand outside and wait, cause no one can tell when this meeting will end, glad it ends before my stomach is growling, _whoo._ ”

“It’s alright, work should come first,” soothes Seongwoo with a grin, “um…so we are gonna have our food here?”

“Oh, no, come to my room, they are gonna turn off the lights here,” answers Minhyun as he takes the two lunch boxes from Seongwoo’s hands, gesturing Seongwoo to follow him.

“You got a room?” Seongwoo asks, shocked to hear Minhyun have a room in the headquarters of Samsung at such a young age, “that…that’s very impressive. I thought most of the staff only gets a cubicle desk.”

“Well, you are not wrong, technically the room is not mine, but our team’s. I am the team leader of this project so I hold the key for now,” explains Minhyun as he unlocks the door.

-

The takeaway tastes absolutely disgusting. Seongwoo would not even touch the pale-coloured pork cutlet with his chopsticks if the peas did not look even worse. They are soaked in a greasy sauce that congeals and sticks to the rice next to them. Considering how Minhyun likes good food and cooks well, Seongwoo is surprised to see him wolf down the takeaway as if it is as delicious as the pasta he cooked a few days ago.

“Eek, I was about to say I probably should’ve chosen another shop,” Seongwoo grunts with his tongue stuck out, “but I guess you don’t find this…super nasty?”

“Trust me, it could’ve been worse,” Minhyun addresses as he gobbles the pork, “at least it looksand tastes like food. Last time I had chicken curry from the same shop and their curry is fluorescent, looks more like a kind of potion from Harry Potter.”

Seongwoo snorts with laughter, “I thought you won’t even take a bite in both cases.”

“Because I’m a good cook?” Minhyun hypothesises.

Seongwoo slowly nods his head with a smile as he pushes the peas around the container with his chopsticks.

“Well, it’s not like I have a choice most of the time, you gotta fill your stomach wth something to survive when you are still at the office,” Minhyun continues, “and, like what I have said before, having food alone always sets a cap on how good the food tastes anyway. It always tastes better if you share the food with someone, even better if it’s someone you are fond of.”

Right after Seongwoo nods his head again without looking at Minhyun, he could feel the moist of Minhyun’s lips on his cheeks. Startled, he turns his head and goggles at Minhyun, unsure of what how he should respond.

“the food tastes good no matter how because you are here with me,” Minhyun declares. 

Half of Seongwoo’s heart finds what Minhyun just did very cute, while the other half wants to squeal at how corny his words are. Before Seongwoo can form a reply in his head, however, he finds his mouth sealed tight by Minhyun’s smooth lips. Seongwoo’s eyes immediately widens following the contact, but he closes them soon after, wrapping his hands behind Minhyun’s neck. He cannot help but notices the gross exchange of grease from their takeaway through their lips, and also how his nose brushes the side of Minhyun’s face even though Minhyun has tilted his head.  All these sensations, nonetheless, are eventually dominated by how soft Minhyun’s lips are on his.

Seongwoo leans back as Minhyun starts to plant kisses down his neck. He lets himself bask in the soft pecks and pulls Minhyun closer by gripping his waist. Minhyun takes that as an affirmation, but he still chooses to draw back instead of proceeding further, noting this room, after all, is his workplace.

“It’s getting late, let’s go back home,” Minhyun says as he plants one last kiss on Seongwoo’s neck.

Seongwoo can only nod his head as he still swims in a haze. 

-

Feeling exhausted after a long day, Seongwoo has fallen asleep for the first half of their drive back home. Even though he is now awake, he is still too tired to initiate an aimless conversation. Seongwoo simply looks out from the window, disregarding how Minhyun is humming to pop song as he steers the wheel.

Something outside his window, however, catches Seongwoo’s attention. T wo people are standing by a parked car. One of them is vigorously rubbing the exterior of that car with wet cloths, while the other splashes buckets of water onto it.

“What are they doing there?” asks Seongwoo as he points at the two people outside the window

“Car-washing,” answers Minhyun casually.

Seongwoo continues to gaze at the two people, “that late? On a street?”

“It’s cheaper to just wash it on the street by yourself than at a carwash,” explains Minhyun, “I alsoused to wash my car by myself before I got promoted.”

“No way,” objects Seongwoo, turning his head to Minhyun, “have you ever watched CSI?”

“Huh?”

“C-S-I, Crime Scene Investigation! They look very fishy. I’d say there’s a high chance that they have killed someone in the car,” Segonwoo hypothesises, “and probably they are now destroying the evidence by washing the car, like getting rid of blood stains or DNA.”

“What?” asks Minhyun with a laugh, interchanging his gaze between Seongwoo and the front window, “No way…”

“I’m sure! When someone becomes suspicious of what they are doing, they’ll give out this high-sounding reason,” asserts Seongwoo with enthusiasm, “ _we’re just washing our car_.”

Minhyun does not respond immediately, but he retains his smile, also seemingly holding his chuckle. After a pause, he finally responds, “well…we’re reaching your home, but if you want to come up to my place for a drink…”

“I’d love to, but I’m just too tired, sorry,” Seongwoo croaks, returning to his tired state.

“Yeah, I could feel that since we met earlier tonight, what have you done today?” Minhyun questions.

“I…I just had a long day, yeah,” utters Seongwoo, turning his head to the window of his side again, trying to suppress himself from remembering what happened this afternoon.

 

Minhyun’s car slowly comes to a stop as they arrive at Seongwoo’s home.

By that time, Seongwoo has fallen asleep again. Minhyun gets out of the car and opens the Seongwoo’s side, leaning in to give him a peck on his cheek.

“You are home,” Minhyun announces.

Seongwoo blinks his eyes quickly and yawns. He stretches in his chair and lets a groan that sounds oddly delicious in Minhyun’s ears, ignoring how his shirt has hitched up, which exposes a few inches of his waist. He does not step out of the car until a further delay, apologising to Minhyun, “sorry, that probably was the ugliest yawn you’ve ever seen.”

“It is,” teases Minhyun, to which Seongwoo responds by pouting his lips and leering at him.

Minhyun plants a kiss on his forehead, wrapping his arms around Seongwoo’s waist, and remarks, “you are just too cute.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” jests Seongwoo as he slightly lifts his head up to gaze at Minhyun.

“Mmm…I like you,” confesses Minhyun, reciprocating Seongwoo’s eye contact, “and I…I wish we can be more than dates. I know we haven’t met each other for long, less than a week to be exact. But I like your accompany, your smile,your humour, everything. If…if you share the same feeling, shall we…officially become boyfriends?”

Seongwoo looks away for a second before he slowly nods his head with a grin. 

Taking his body language as a yes, Minhyun immediately embraces Seongwoo within his arms, holding him up.

“This is my best day,” Minhyun states joyously as he holds Seongwoo even tighter.

“I’m glad to hear that.” utters Seongwoo, who cannot bring himself to reply with “me too”.

“Are you feeling ok though?” asks Minhyun, stroking Seongwoo’s hair with his hand, “you do look very tired.”

“I am,” Seongwoo soothes, “I just need some sleep.”

“Do you need me to walk you up to your apartment?” asks Minhyun with noticeable concern.

“Nah, Jisung will be very annoying if he sees you and I will get even less sleep.”

Minhyun chuckles before he plants another kiss on Seongwoo’s forehead.

“Text me when you get home, then,” utters Minhyun, “miss me, okay?”

Seongwoo nods his head twice and enters the building without turning his head back.

 

* * *

“Here you go, your fish cakes,” Jaehwan mumbles as he passes the box of takeaway to Daniel after he gets home.

“Oh thanks,” Daniel acknowledges as he sits down by the dining table.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, why not.”

Jaehwan pulls out a chair by the dining table with a loud screech before he sits on it.

“Have you ever thought of going back to Busan?”

“Uh…No?” Daniel answers, “life is short. This is the time to work hard. Seoul is where we find most opportunities.”

“I don’t mean that.”

“Then what?” asks Daniel nonchalantly as he gobbles the fishcake.

“I was just thinking. You dyed your hair pink just like when you were in Busan. You eat the same junk food where you used to eat the most in Busan. You even eat the same _ass_ where you used to eat in Busan,” elaborates Jaehwan as he leans in, “why don’t you go back?”

Daniel instantly reckons what does Jaehwan mean, he pauses his movement for a while in order to give an answer.

“You just become more and more attached to things that you are used to as time gone by,” Daniel answers somewhat vaguely, "pretty much like the roots of a plant."

Jaehwan lets out a breath as he shakes his head.

“Let’s not talk about it. Argh. I probably shouldn’t even have asked in the first place,” grumbles Jaehwan, “but, seriously, what’s happening?”

“What.”

“Just…why?” Jaehwan chides, strolling to his room, “I don’t get what you are doing, even though I won’t challenge you. Just like how you won't challenge why would Sewoon and I work. You are my best friend, and I fully trust your acumen. Let’s just stop it here.”

“Can I ask you something back, then?”

“What.”

“How did you find out?”

“You know, Jihoon texts you like crazy. Most of the time I don’t give a fuck when something pops up on your phone,” answers Jaehwan, “but then, one time when you were bathing, the speed of the notifications rolling in suddenly doubled, so I took a peek out of curiosity. Turns out both of them are texting you.”

“Uh...yeah, Jihoon does text me more and more frequently,” answers Daniel, “by the way, I have to clarify, I…I…I don't know what’s between me and Seongwoo yet. So I have to protest against the sentence where you say I’m _eating the same ass from Busan_. That never happened…in Seoul. We just shared a kiss, and I don’t even know if that’s rushed passion.”

“Well, it’s normal to ask the question of  _what are we_ , but that’s not what we should touch on today,” answers Jaehwan, “the crux of your problem now is, make up your mind. It’s fine who you want to be with. Just don’t leave the other one in the dark for too long once you have made the decision.”

Daniel is silent.

“And I do believe you have already made up your mind,” Jaehwan stresses.

Daniel wants to respond, but Jaehwan quickly interjects, “ _arrrrgh_ , I am the one who said we should not talk about it. Fuck me. Let's move on. Oh, the hotel Sewoon and I stayed in Chuncheon last month is fancy as fuck. It’s right next to the train station. The food is excellent, and the room is so big that I feel like we can play hide-and-seek. The bathtub is almost swimming-pool like. Sewoon and I bathed together and tried different positions when we are in it. It’s super nice.”

“That’s such a smooth transition of a convo,” quips Daniel, completely adapted to how the couple habitually gives out too much information, “did you book the hotel in advance?”

“No. Why? Who do you want to go with,” Jaehwan remarks as he tilts his head.

“No one, I’m just asking casually,” answers Daniel, shaking his head.

“Well, in case the one who you do not go with suddenly calls me, I won't pick up the phone, or I’ll just tell him that you are in a team-building training camp with me. I’m such a good BFF,” Jaehwan offers.

Daniel rolls his eyes, because he was genuinely asking the question in a cursory manner.

“Perhaps he is not in Seoul anyway, cause he’s on a flight to Hong Kong or somewhere else. So don't worry too much,” continues Jawhwan as he trots into his room.

“What?”

“Nothing, Good night,” mutters Jaehwan, closing his bedroom door.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gotta sleep now. I can almost see the sun LOL. Will probably add more notes when I wake up.  
> －  
> 1\. I promise I will update more next week because I want to at least reach 75-80% before September. Hope I will achieve that goal.  
> Thank you for your tolerance XOXO


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do I always finish a chapter when it's almost daybreak. T.T I have to sleep now and I will beta when I wake up. Thank you for your tolerance.

December.

“I don’t understand,” Daniel utters lifelessly, “we should stay in bed on a Sunday. That’s what youlazy-ass usually insist, and we are here so early just to paddle this crap.”

“Tsk, that’s why your soul is so uncultured, can you be less mean and allow yourself to be grateful of this majestic view?” retorts Seongwoo, “The weather is perfect and it’s not crowded at all. I like it.”

“I learn how to be mean from you, you are the master of meanness,” retorts Daniel.

It is a cool and breezy Sunday morning. Pleasant gusts of wind intermittently blow against Daniel and Seongwoo’s faces while they are on a paddle boat by the bank of Han River. Seongwoo is themore enthusiastic one who turns his head left and right to appreciate the scenery. Daniel, on the other hand, lazes on the seat and paddles slothfully, recovering from the overtime work the night before for a big project.

Seongwoo manages to shut down the analytical part of his brain that demands knowing what is happening between them (and what will happen next). Little does he know that Daniel shares the same uncertainty, but the latter also chooses to savour the time of seeing each other instead of analysing further.

“Ahhh…this reminds me of my free-spirited high school days,” Seongwoo chortles, trying to propel the conversation, “my date really treasured privacy. Instead of spending time with him in ordinary places like cafes, I was always brought to paddle boats.”

“By whom,” Daniel questions.

“What, what by whom,” Seongwoo gazes at Daniel with a smirk.

“Who was the person that brought you to boat-paddling, huh?” Daniel challenges as he stifles a laugh, pointing a finger at Seongwoo, “don’t tell me it’s that ridiculous idol lover boy.”

“Why is that ridiculous,” sasses Seongwoo, smacking Daniel’s finger, “you’re just jealous that I dated Jinyoung. I still find him the most handsome in B1A4.”

“I _met_ him, last night, for the shooting of a new ad,” Daniel drawls out, sitting up straight.

Seongwoo can only gape at Daniel with your mouth open, "are you serious?"

“Yeah, _fuck my life_. I think I embarrassed myself,” grumbles Daniel.

“Why?” asks Seongwoo, scrunching his nose, “Oh my god, don’t tell me you outright asked him.”

 

-

 

“Good evening, Jinyoung-shi,” greets Daniel as he holds out his hands, “Daniel from the account servicing department.”

“Hello,” replies Jinyoung with a beam, shaking Daniel’s hand firmly.

“The takeaway is here,” Daniel informs, placing the boxes of takeaway on the table, “enjoy.”

“Are we in a hurry? If we are, I’ll ask the stylist to have my make-up done while I eat,” Jinyoung kindly offers.

“Oh. Not really,” Daniel soothes, “the camera crew is still setting up everything, and the director is still finalising the lines with the representative from Samsung.”

“I see, then I’ll have my dinner first.”

Daniel responds with a smile as he turns away.

“Have you eaten yet?” asks Jinyoung behind Daniel, “I ordered extra. Kimchi friend rice, and some grilled beef rips. Interested?”

 

“Is it good?” asks Jinyoung, “I always order from takeaway from here. I hope it’s not a disappointment.”

“It tastes delicious, thank you.” Daniel tries to answer politely despite the big chunk of rice in your mouth.

The room is filled with silence soon after, one that Daniel knows it will turn awkward if it prolongs.

“You know, I am very delighted to see you in person,” Daniel compliments, filling in the silence, “I am a fan of B1A4, not only because of your group’s refreshing vibes, but also how your group strikes to self-produce your songs.”

“Really?” Jinyoung mutters before he puts a spoonful of rice in his mouth, “thank you.”

“Yeah, composing is not easy, so that is very admirable,” Daniel blabbers, once again trying to swallow the rice.

“Well, which is your favourite?”

“I just like them all,” Daniel answers with a boisterous laughter, an attempt to cover his anxiety - the anxiety of being unsure of which songs from B1A4 do involve Jinyouyng's production.

“Which one _exactly_ do you like the most then?” Jinyoung turns his head to face Daniel with a bright smile.

Daniel almost forgets to chew upon hearing the question. He stares at Jinyoung for a second, who wiggles his eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

 “In…In The Same Place, you know, the…the one that is produced for a television show last year. Yeah. I know it’s not by B1A4, but it’s my favourite from you, yeah.” Daniel can only nervously sputter the only song he is sure that is produced by Jinyoung.

Jinyoung nods after hearing Daniel’s answer, showing approval of his choice.  “ _Under the same sky, at the same time, at the same place, we’re probably seeing other people…,_ ” he recites the lyrics as if it was a poem after taking a sip from his cup of water.

Daniel does not know how to respond, he quietly stares at Jinyoung, who is pushing the food around the container with his chopsticks.

“Sorry,” utters Jinyoung with a constrained smile after a while, “some songs do bring back memories. I get sentimental occasionally when I remember things of the past.”

“It’s such a good song,” Daniel affirms, “er…,have you ever thought of recording a version by B1A4?”

“Well, I’ll probably let Sandeul sing it as a solo. Sometimes I still weep when I read the lyrics, haha. I wrote the lyrics long long time ago in order to commemorate something that happened up-close and personal to me around the time I debuted.” replies Jinyoung, continuing to push the rice around.

Daniel knows it could well be just a case of confirmation bias, but he does notice how Jinyoung’s behaviour coincides with Seongwoo’s ridiculous Jinyoung-is-my-first-love story. He wants to confirm the authenticity, but he does not know how.

“Umm…something that happened in Seoul?” Daniel asks cautiously.

“Well, depends on how you define it. It first happened in Busan, in a high school,” Jinyoung is surprisingly honest, “god, I probably has said too much. Just pretend you didn't hear it. Haha.”

_ (Fuck) _

“Umm…” Daniel mutters, trying to pause the conversation by getting busy with finishing the dinner. While he reaches the bowl of grilled rips between the two, Jinyoung also extends his arm to the same bowl.

And both of their chopsticks managed to land on the same piece of ribs among all.

Stunned, Daniel turns his head to look at Jinyoung and the eye contact between the two becomes oddly intense. He swears he can find a slight hint of competitiveness from Jinyoung’s eyes before he forces a smile at the latter and gestures him to have the piece.

Jinyoung then returns the smile benevolently and places the piece of ribs in his own bowl.

A few seconds of silence then ensues.

“Jinyoung-shi,” a male staff from their back suddenly announces after he knocks the door, “the director wants to go through the finalised lines with you.”

“Oh, thank you, please tell him I'm coming,” Jinyoung acknowledges as he stands up. He then turns to Daniel and divulges, “I…I’m sorry about that,” pointing at the bowl of ribs, “cause i think you get to the meat first.”

“No, you get to him first,” Daniel responds flatly.

“Huh?”

“Er…um…I mean, the food tastes very nice, thank you,” Daniel brushes it off.

“My pleasure, nice chat Daniel, see you again soon,” Jinyoung waves his hand before he leaves the room.

-

“I TOLD YOU THE STORY IS REAL,” Seongwoo exclaims, paddling faster in order to emancipate his feeling of triumph, “ ♫♫ _We pretend not to know each other, looking elsewhere, we walk different paths in this space that we don’t understand. Under the same sky, at the same time, at the same place_ … ♫♫ ”

“DON’T. RUB. IT. IN,” Daniel heckles before a laugh, lazing on the seat with no intention to paddle.

“Well, remember you told me you will buy me dinner if there is damning evidence to confirm this story? What about tonight?” asks Seongwoo with a smile.

“Did I? Well, I’m free tonight anyway, sure,” agrees Daniel. 

“What about the shop where Jinyoung orders takeaway then? Where is it?” suggests Seongwoo.

“It’s right opposite to my home, actually, I never know it tastes good cause it looks super tacky. Can I take a nap first before we meet again tonight though? The shoot ends at 3 a.m., gees.” pleads Daniel.

 

* * *

 

“Where are you?” asks Seongwoo through the phone.

“I was waiting for the elevator, but then I realise I forgot my phone,” explains Daniel, “when I got back I could hear the phone ringing.”

“ _Bitch please_ , who are you trying to fool. That means you overslept, and you are still at home,” Seongwoo chides, “I should’ve know this would happen. I am inside the restaurant already.”

“Good good good, 5 minutes tops,” replies Daniel as he tucks his key into his pocket.

“Thank god it’s close to your home. I’ll order when you arrive. I hate you.”

“OK, bye.”

 

Daniel hurriedly jogs to the front door, opening it after putting on his shoes, only to see a familiar figure standing in front of him.

“Huh?” Daniel gasps.

It is Jihoon.

“Hey…,” Jihoon utters tenderly as he bounces towards Daniel, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s neck.

“A…Aren’t you supposed to be on your way to Tokyo?” asks Daniel with his posture completely stiffened.

“I was, but something went wrong with the airport traffic control, so my flight got cancelled,” Jihoon smiles sweetly, rocking back and forth on his heels.

“I see,” Daniel replies dully after he clears his throat.

“Your text said you are at home, so I decided to give you a surprise and keep you company,” says Jihoon as he tilts his head, brushing the corner of Daniel’s lips with his thumb. He then reaches his luggage that is still standing outside the front door when Daniel offers from behind, “I’ll handle it, just go in.”

“You are going out for food?” asks Jihoon as he strolls towards the living room.

“Yeah, I…I was just about to grab something to eat,” explains Daniel after he licks his lips, closing the front door.

“I also haven’t eaten yet, can we order pizza together?” suggests Jihoon, turning on the television.

“Yeah,” Daniel stands by the front door, completely unsure of what to do.

“I’ll call then,” Jihoon answers joyfully as he takes out his phone.

 

It’s been 15 minutes since Jihoon ordered pizza.

Daniel is sitting up straight on the sofa, unable to fully relax. He wants to contact Seongwoo, but there is simply no way for him to do so when Jihoon is leaning on his shoulder, intertwining his arms with Daniel’s.

“Are you not feeling well?” asks Jihoon with genuine concern while his eyes fixate on the television, “you seem to be very tense today.”

“Um…I was just thinking about work. Big project deadlines are coming, yeah,” Daniel blabbers.

“I see.”

“I want to poop,” mutters Daniel as he stands up and strides to the washroom, shoving his hands in his pockets to make sure his phone is with him.

As soon as he closes the bathroom door, he could feel his phone vibrate. Immediately, he turns the tap all the way to full blast, trying to create loud splashing sounds in order to cover his voice.

“ _Where_ the fuck are you?” asks Seongwoo impatiently from the other side of the call.

“Uh…” Daniel is clueless of how should he explain.

Before he could even utter a word, however, a knock on the bathroom door is heard, which almost frightens Daniel into dropping his phone.

“Honey, the pizza is here,” yells Jihoon from the other side of the door.

“Huh? I can’t hear you,” asks Daniel as he puts his phone away from his ear.

“The pizza delivery man is coming up,” exclaims Jihoon joyously.

“OK, I’ll be quick.”

Daniel places his phone near his ear again, only to find the call is disconnected.

Perturbed, He dials Seongwoo’s number again, but he can only reach his voicemail.

And he calls again.

And he calls yet again.

Not until a few more failed calls does Daniel finally realise that Seongwoo could be deliberately rejecting his calls. He wants to call again as a final attempt, but another knock on the door stops him from doing so.

“Honey, do you have coins? the deliveryman doesn’t have enough change. Where’s your wallet?” asks Jihoon.

“I’m coming out, hold on,” Daniel replies loudly and turns off the tap, flushing his toilet in order to complete the act.

* * *

 

Seongwoo cannot explain why he needs to hang up the phone once he hears Jihoon’s voice from the other side. He cannot even hear what Jihoon is talking about, but the voice alone is sufficient enough to realise that Daniel will not be coming.

Understanding that it is uncourteous to leave the restaurant without ordering anything after being seated, he orders some  takeaway and takes a bus to Gangnam.

He is now slowly nibbling the fried noodle strand by strand, a stark contrast from Minhyun, who is sitting next to him, devouring the food with audible crunching sounds. The two are now sitting in Minhyun's room at his office, having another dinner "date", as Minhyun is working overtime again.

“As much as I like it, you don’t need to bring takeaway for me, you know, it’s your day-off and you don’t live nearby,” says Minhyun after he puts down his chopsticks, “where did you buy this though? It tastes super good. I think I’ll start ordering takeaway from here.”

“It’s from…uh…I just bought it randomly, yeah,” blabbers Seongwoo, knowing that he simply cannot explain the backstory, “you always work till late, which means you deserve better food than florescent curry, and I don’t know how to show my support except bringing you food either.”

“I'm very grateful to have a boyfriend who thinks in this way, especially when I can’t spend much time with you these days. My colleagues jokingly said you must be checking up on me, and that’s why you come up and find me with takeaway all of a sudden,” answers Minhyun as he strokes Seongwoo’s hair, “I was like, this makes no sense. Not only because I have full faith in you, that’s given, but also because everyone knows the stereotype about how no gay people have ever existed in Electrical Engineering, or in any kinds of engineering, is factually true.”

Seongwoo responds with a smile, knowing that his boyfriend is joking, for Minhyun himself majored in Electrical Engineering.

“What…what about your ex-boyfriend then,” asks Seongwoo as he aimlessly stares at thebowl of noodles, “I remember you told me that you met him in Seoul University.”

“He majored in Art History,” Minhyun answers calmly before he dabs his mouth with tissue paper.

“How long have you guys been together then?” asks Seongwoo, realising that he has never asked Minhyun about his past.

“Throughout my freshman year?” Minhyun tilts his head in order to recall this piece of memory.

“And you have never dated since?”

Minhyun lets out a soft sigh before he answers, “…no, I haven’t. For a year or two, I hesitated a lot when it came to devoting myself in love after that failure, simply for fear of another fruitless relationship. Ijust…held myself back.”

While Seongwoo has expected Minhyun to have never dated thereafter, his explanation is not one that Seongwoo has anticipated. He simply thought the reason was that Minhyun’s work has been very time-consuming, and there are no proper channels for him to find a suitable date. To Seongwoo, Minhyun is very passionate in love and, definitely, an intense lover.

“It took me another year to recognise that I can’t be overly apprehensive in love forever. And I used to regret about the lateness of this epiphany. I am in the labour force now - which means I have entered the busiest stage of my life,” elaborates Minhyun as he stares blankly at the table, “I…I become very willing to spend time with any dates however busy I am, because I know I am not _that_ young anymore, and time is running out. But I just…can’t find one, and I have almost lost hope.”

Minhyun stares at Seongwoo intensely before he continues, “until I met you. I see hope from you.”

Upon hearing the last sentence, Seongwoo can sense a feeling of guilt shouldering on him. He puts down his head and sniffs, “what…what do you see in me that makes you see hope?”

Minhyun perceives the question in another manner and replies with a smile, “oh no, do you mean what I have just said makes me sound like I’m ready to date anyone that I meet? No, I…I definitely don't mean that. I mean, of course I am interested in you since we first met, but I wasn’t thinking about asking you to be my boyfriend that soon. It’s just…do you remember the drive where I sent you home on the night where we become official?”

Sengwoo can only remember he slept through a major part of it.

“You asked me what were the guys doing outside your window when they were obviously washing their car, do you remember?” Minhyun hints.

Seongwoo finally remembers the conversation and nods his head, but he is now bewildered as to why is this relevant here.

“This may sound very stupid, but I am sure I fell in love you after that conversation,” replies Minhyun with a sweet smile, “you are very different from other people that I meet in my monotonous past. I just find the way you see things very…adorable, different, and creative. You…you have ideas that are very off-the-wall and make me see things from another perspective. People in my life have been very…dull, myself included, and I realise you are the only one who can sprinkle my life with joy. That’s why I don’t want to wait any further, cause I think I have found the one that I really like. I don’t want to lose you.”

Despite how cheesy and over-the-top Minhyun’s speech is, for a mixture of reasons, some of which he can never tell Minhyun, Seongwoo finds himself weeping. He puts his head further down to hide this fact, but it does not help as the two trails of tears are clearly visible.

“Why are you crying?” Minhyun asks tenderly as he brushes Seongwoo’s tears with his thumbs, “I didn’t mean to say all these to make you feel moved, I just…want you to know how you make me feel hopeful.”

He then hugs Seongwoo tightly and utters, “I love you.”

Seongwoo's chest only heaves more heavily after hearing Minhyun's confession.

“I know,” chokes Seongwoo, who still cannot bring himself to say _me too_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I beta'd last chapter. Whoo, I made so many grammatical mistakes. What was I thinking about.
> 
> 2\. The plot again progresses slower than I imagined^^, which means I have more to type. My 75%-to-80%- before-September goal becomes unlikely, but then I promise I will update frequently. Hopefully at least one more update before September (which should be likely).
> 
> 3.The endgame is fixed. If anyone wants a new endgame...um, I hope I will start a new fic after this one...? I am not sure if anyone will still want to read what I write. Even if I do start a new fic after this, it probably won't be a long, chaptered fic, but I never thought this fic will be a long, chaptered one either (my stupid ass thought I can finish the plot at around 15000 words, we are already reaching a double and the story still has a long way to go), so we shall see.
> 
> 4\. Comments are definitely welcomed. They are, as I have said, the best motivator for me to update.
> 
> 5\. I think I said we are reaching the kinda-angsty part a few chapters ago. But then when I start typing, I am actually not sure if the kinda-angsty part is in any way "angstier" than the part where I think it is not angsty. So I guess...there is no real angst in this fic? (don't hit me).
> 
> Sorry for the wordy end notes. Thank you for your tolerance. XOXO.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. This took me MUCH LONGER than I planned T.T I will beta it tomorrow, hopefully no major betas (I will tell in the end note of the next chapter if there are. There shouldn't be any.)
> 
> Thank you for your tolerance.

It is Christmas Eve before Seongwoo even realises. Jisung decides to throw a house party where he invites everyone he knows, and he is now decorating their house with the help of Seongwoo.

“I swear to God I will explode if I get your gift later on,” Jisung scowls, “Innisfree make-up samples, seriously? Your gift is practically a collection of stolen goods.”

“That’s the beauty of a random gift exchange, you don’t know what will you receive until we draw lots. If all gifts are nice, you lose the fun,” Seongwoo retorts, tying the ribbon on top of his gift-wrap, “Also, I think everyone here will love it except you. I put in _tons_ of samples from a wide range of products, which means that my gift comes with very generalised appeal.”

“You could’ve at least _buy_ a shitty one to increase the fun.”

“Not like I don’t want to buy one, but I have not fully recovered from the flu yet. I’d rather lie on my bed.”

“Of course I know you have not fully recovered, _who_ cleaned your vomit two nights ago?” Jisung jests, “you always say I’m the bad influence, now look at you. Why would Youngmin and Woojin want your gift when they can get those samples by themselves.”

“Fine, what’s so exceptionally nice about your gift then,” Seongwoo asks, reaching the gift from Jisung and shaking it gently to guess what is inside.

Seongwoo then shakes the one from himself, and the two sound exactly the same.

Jisung does not answer, but he gives out a knowing smile.

“ _Bitch please,_ yours just sounds like packets of samples also,” Seongwoo blusters in anger.

“A lot of things sound like this when you shake them inside a box,” jeers Jisung, placing both gifts under the Christmas tree, “oh, by the way, Minki and Jonghyun are coming also.”

“What?”

“Yeah, when I said I invited everyone, I literally mean that. They are coming up to Seoul to spend their Christmas holiday,” replies Jisung, “I even asked your step-brother, but he's in Taipei as you should know. Daehwi can’t make it either, he is in Hokkaido with Jinyoung, who is still alive and well, in case you wonder. I have never seen him, you know, kinda makes me wonder how he looks like.”

“Me too, and both of them seem to be so in love with each other, which is a bit…weird?” Seongwoo agrees as he starts sweeping the floor, “by the way, I wanna say our party is literally gay, Minki and Jonghyun, Woojin and Hyeongseob, Youngmin and Donghyun, and we two odd-one-outs.”

Jisung lets out a sigh. “Christmas is the only day in a year where I wish I’m not single. On other days, to be honest, I’m super thankful that I am,” Jisung answers, covering the table with a tablecloth and wine glasses, “when will Minhyun be back though?”

“I don't know, he says the snow in Beijing is still outrageously heavy. No one knows when will the airport reopen,” Seongwoo explains flatly, sweeping everything onto the dustpan before moving to the living room to continue.

“So no exact date?”

“No, it has to be within this week anyway. No snowstorms will last that long,” Seongwoo blabbers.

“I see. I simply thought you will be very eager to see him back. You know, he is stuck at a foreign city, it’s Christmas time, and you have been very sick,” Jisung answers, strolling into the kitchen for utensils.

"Prolly that's why he likes me. I am not clingy," Seongwoo does not want to dwell on this topic any further, “what time will our party end? I can’t stay up late. I’m a patient, technically.”

“You can’t stay up late anyway, don’t blame the germs,” Jisung retorts, “don’t worry, I’ll be in Hongdae for a countdown party tonight anyway. So it’ll be like…11:00 at most?”

“There are countdown parties for Christmas now? Am I too old or what, why have I never heard of it?” Seongwoo questions, throwing everything on the dustpan into the rubbing bin.

“First question, yes, it’s just an excuse for clubs in Hongdae to earn more money anyway,”Jisung addresses, “second question, yes, no explanation needed.”

 

* * *

 

Seongwoo is surprised to see Minki and Jonghyun blend in seamlessly with all the other guests, but he is _more_ surprised by how no one in the room finds having Sangria for Christmas is unconventional.

“I got the recipe from Pinterest, and It’s red in colour, so it’s meant to be festive. ” Minki explains, being the one who carries all the ingredients to the party for making Sangria.

“I suppose…!? I have never heard of having Sangria for Christmas,” answers Seongwoo, before he empties he cup for a refill, “it tastes good though, so don’t worry.”

“You better watch out though, the alcohol concentration is quite high, there’s vodka and red wine in it,” Jonghyun kindly warns, “Jisung told us you were still not feeling too well, so don't drink too much.”

Seongwoo hums in acknowledgement while he finishes the whole cup in one go.

Jonghyun is wrong. it’s not just Seongwoo who should watch out the alcohol cooncentration, but everyone in the party who is legal to drink. Jisung is barely sober by the time for gift exchange.

Seongwoo is relieved to find Jonghyun as the recipient of his gift. With the insane amount of alcohol intake, Jisung will scream relentlessly for sure if he is getting stolen make-up samples for Christmas.

On the other hand, Seongwoo is receiving Jisung’s gift, but Jisung warns him not to open it until tomorrow because the gift is something that “ _you don't hate, but you will hate me for giving it to you_ ”.

“Your warning just adds to my suspicion as to what is inside your gift. I have been wondering if we are giving away the same stuff,” Seongwoo bickers.

“Feel free to think in this way. I know you, nothing can calm your suspicion anyway, _Brrrrrup_ , excuse me,” Jisung rebukes with his cheeks bright red, “Woojin’s turn.” 

“Oh, Jisung-shi is getting my gift,” rejoices Woojin after drawing Jisung’s name from the bag, “I think you will like it.”

Woojin reaches his large paper bag by the dining table and takes out a a fruit basket. Inside is a palm-sized kitten who is sleeping.

“Your gift is a cat?” Seongwoo growls lowly, “the fuck?”

“My cat gave birth to some kittens a few months ago, but our home is too small to accommodate all of them, so we thought of giving out one of them here as a Christmas gift,” Woojin smiles, pointing at another large paper box by the dining table, “we also bought a bed and some food that should be able to last for a few months.”

If Jisung was completely sober, he would probably lecture Woojin’s mildly insensitive decision of giving away his kitten in a Christmas gift exchange (with remarks such as “what if Seongwoo was the new owner, your cat would be dead tomorrow”). Yet, that part of his brain is too drunk to properly function.

“Awwww…..It’s SOOOOOOOOO cute,” exclaims Jisung while he softly brushes the back of the kitten, “boy or girl? name?”

“His name is Daniel, 3 months old,” Hyeongseob elaborates.

“Why?” Seongwoo asks bluntly.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch your question,” responds Hyeongseob with a smile.

“I mean, out of all names, why would you call your cat Daniel?” Seongwoo asks bluntly, not knowing that what propels him to ask this is the over-consumption of Sangria.

“We have to give away two kittens actually. One boy and one girl. My friend Euiwoong who got the girl one named her Kitty because of, well, Hello Kitty. So we just named the boy Daniel because Hello Kitty has a boyfriend called Dear Daniel,” explains Hyeongseob.

“But your two cats are siblings, not lovers. Have you watched too much Game of Thrones?” Seongwoo becomes weirdly analytical.

“I belong to the 0.1% population on Earth where I have never watched one episode Game of Thrones,” jokes Hyeongseob as he shakes his head, “so I don’t get your reference.”

“But..”

“Shutupppp, you nasty bitch, the cat’s not yours, but mineeeeeee,” Jisung mumbles drowsily, as he places his head on the dining table, allowing alcohol to take over him, “Daniel’s good name, it suits him. The way he licks his balls, _Burrrrrrrp,_ excuse me, I mean, paws. Aww…I just can’t.”

“You are getting drunk,” Seongwoo informs.

“I’m ash sober ash ‘m gonna git.”

 

* * *

It’s 11:30.

Everyone else left at around 11:00, including Jisung, who insists he has to attend the countdown party despite his wobbly walk. Seongwoo is now alone at home lying on the sofa with his face still red. He could feel sweat forming on his forehead while the sensation of discomfort in the upper stomach persists longer than he desires. Reluctantly, he reaches the phone in his pocket that vibrates for a second, indicating a new text.

 

**Kang Daniel:**

Merry Christmas!

 

Seongwoo is too tired to craft an elaborate response.

 

**Ong Seongwoo:**

You too! Celebrating?

**Kang Daniel:**

Not really. Alone at home, literally doing nothing.

**Ong Seongwoo:**

Me too D:

**Kang Daniel:**

Come over?

**Ong Seongwoo:**

Too comfy to move. What about you come over.

-

“Wow, what happened to your home,” asks Daniel curiously after he steps into Seongwoo’s apartment, “it’s like after a bombing raid.”

“House party,” Seongwoo answers briefly, closing the front door.

“You smell like alcohol.”

“House party,” Seongwoo reiterates flatly as an explanation, “trust me, I smelt worse. Why are you alone? Where’s…”

“ _Hold on_ , why is there a cat here?” Daniel stares at the other Daniel as he walks over, “Awww, it’sso cute.”

“Argh,” Seongwoo grunts, “long story. It’s Jisung’s.”

“ _Hello cutie~_ ” Daniel mutters affectionately, gently brushing the top of its head, “such a friendly kitten. I like cats, but those I met in Busan are assholes.”

“Yeah…” Seongwoo mutters as he fixates his gaze with all his available energy on Daniel’s smile, because Daniel playing with a kitten is _never_ a scene he can mentally handle.

“What its name?”

“Huh? Sorry, I was zoning out.”

“Does it have a name,” Daniel repeats his question, scratching the kitten’s ears.

“Yeah, Daniel,” Seongwoo answers casually.

Daniel raises one eyebrow and stares at Seongwoo, “you mean…, his name is Daniel.”

Seongwoo responds with a snort, “ _Bitch please_ , nothing to do with you, you self-absorbed bastard. Do you remember Woojin, his boyfriend named him after some fictional characters. I don’t wanna explain. It’s stupid.”

Daniel seems to be fine with the explanation. He turns his head back to the kitten with an affectionate smile, speaking to the kitten with a pitched voice, “ _Hello Daniel_ , _how are you~_ o _nly good-looking people use this name. Ugly people usually call themselves Seongwoo.”_

“SHUT UP ALREADY!” Seongwoo yells before a laugh, walking into the kitchen, “hey, want some Sangria? We still have some left.”

-

Seongewoo _finally_ regrets drinking too much after two more refills.

He is now lounging on the sofa, holding the empty cup on his hand. Worse still, he is not sure whether his nausea and flush originate from having too much alcohol or from the flu he has not fully recovered from.

“What is that?” asks Daniel from the other side of the sofa, pointing at Jisung’s gift on the coffee table, “Christmas gift?”

“Urgh,” Seongwoo groans, brushing all his hair to the back with his hand, “I got loads of them, you can have it.”

Daniel unwraps the gift in a haste.

To both of their astonishment, inside Jisung's gift is a box of condoms with different flavours. Daniel can only turn his head slowly and stare at Seongwoo with wonder.

“You got…loads of them? Including this Long Island Iced Tea-flavoured one?” asks Daniel hesitantly, holding the said-flavoured condom in his hand.

Seongwoo parts his mouth open but he cannot utter a word, realising Jisung does not have a shitty soul as he does.

Daniel cackles as he places the gift on the coffee table again, “Are you ok though?” asks Daniel, “your face is so much redder than you usually do after drinking.”

“I’m fine. I can just be sick,” Seongwoo grumbles, almost lying down on the sofa.

“Isn’t that even worse?” Daniel knits his eyebrows as he leans towards Seongwoo, placing the back of his hand on Seongwoo’s forehead, “well it doesn’t feel like a fever though.”

“I told you I’m fine,” Seongwoo insists before he stands up.

“Where are you going?”

“Kitchen, water,” Seongwoo blurts before he wobbles and trips over the corner of the coffee table. Daniel instantly grips Seongwoo’s elbow from behind to steady him, but the latter soon waves him off, “I’m okay.”

“You are not. That’s what you always say when you are not okay. You are an expert at bottling up feelings,” Daniel turns Seongwoo around to face him, grabbing Seongwoo’s cup before he nips over to the kitchen for water, “you stay on the sofa.”

-

Seongwoo does feel slightly better after a glass of warm water (even though the discomfort on his upper stomach still persists), but he also feels worse when he registers that he is in a familiar scenario yet again - doing nothing on the sofa with Daniel in complete quietness.

“What do you mean by I’m the expert at bottling up my feelings just then,” Seongwoo breaks the silence. Right after, he regrets coming up with this topic; he could have just asked where Jihoon is, something he did not get to ask when Daniel arrives.

“It just means what it means,” Daniel responds flatly, “you understand better than I do when it comes to how you say things that you do not agree with your heart.”

“No I don’t.”

“And your disagreement is a prime example of what do I mean,” Daniel counters with a smile.

Seongwoo tightens his mouth into one straight line before he utters, “I hate you.”

“What you just said is an example too,” Daniel replies before emptying his cup of Sangria.

“Uh…,” Seongwoo cannot come up a witty clapback. He can only feel the air around him becomes intensely denser upon Daniel’s answer, and the silence makes his discomfort in his stomach detectable again.

“Looks like what I have just said is too on-point,” Daniel leans in, occupying the middle seat of the sofa.

“Well, if what you said is true, then you must hate me too. I must be a hypocrite in your mind,” Seongwoo replies coldly, turning his head away from Daniel.

“No, not at all,” Daniel denies, shuffling his body even forward.

Seongwoo turns his head back to Daniel, whose face is much closer than he remembered.

“I like you, just as you are,” Daniel continues, ignoring that it is the Sangria that gives him the courage.

Seongwoo can tell Daniel is staring at him with all the zeal he can ever assemble, something Seongwoo himself does not realise that he is also doing.  Daniel is going to kiss him - an act that he does not mind at all.

As soon as their lips touch, Seongwoo moans thirstily into Daniel’s mouth as he scrambles for a grip on Daniel’s broad shoulders. Daniel then shifts his body and lies on top of Seongwoo while their wet kisses generate sounds that Seongwoo would normally find disgusting.

“You didn't... answer me last time,” Daniel pants while he licks Seongwoo’s neck, “do you miss me?”

Seongwoo closes his eyes and nods his head faintly with his mouth wide open. He grips hard on Daniel’s pink hair while Daniel places both hands inside Seongwoo’s T-shirt.

“I love you,” Daniel mumbles before he licks wantonly into Seongwoo’s mouth again. Both of them sit up as the open-mouthed kiss continues while Seongwoo unbuttons Daniel’s shirt. Daniel shrugs off his shirt skilfully while Seongwoo’s fingers rake over the skin of Daniel’’s arms. Seongwoo then reaches Daniel’s belt while Daniel rests his head on Seongwoo’s shoulder.

Something within Seongwoo, however, does not feel right. He could feel his abdominal muscles contract for a few times and the unease in his stomach gradually grows. 

He is going to puke. 

At once, he retracts from Daniel’s hug before he can fully whip out Daniel’s belt. Daniel is confused at first, but he understands what is happening when Seongwoo covers his mouth following a violent hiccup.

Immediately, Seongwoo sprints towards the washroom while he could feel the intense pressure built in his stomach is about to be expelled.

BLAAAAAARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Seongwoo cannot help but thank god that he manages to reach the toilet before any puke is vigorously pushed out from his mouth, even though he also hates how the hygiene-freak part of his brain is not silenced even amidst this disaster.

A knock on the bathroom is then heard, “are you ok?” asks Daniel from the other side of the door.

“Ye…RRRAAGGGGHHHH,” Seongwoo cannot even complete a word before the expulsion of pressure kicks in again.

“No you are not,” Daniel barges into the bathroom with his shirt back on, holding a mop in his hand.

“I…I’m ok, it’s just the alcohol,” Seongwoo sputters weakly, sitting by the toilet bowl with visible sweat on his forehead, “get out, please, I want to take a bath.”

 

* * *

“Sorry,” Seongwoo utters softly.

“Sorry for what, you have nothing to say sorry for,“ Daniel responds mellowly.

The two are now cuddling on Seongwoo’s bed after Seongwoo takes a bath. Daniel is wrapping his arms around Seongwoo while both lie close to one side of the bed. Seongwoo’s back rests against Daniel’s stomach with his legs curled as he places one hand below the pillow and the other on top of Daniel’s arm.

“You probably should stop drinking too much,” Daniel whispers, even though his tone suggests what he has just said is not meant to be taken seriously at all.

“You tell me, you chug beer like a champ,” Seongwoo slowly drawls.

Daniel snorts merrily before he answers, “but you should. Well, we can do it together.”

“Mmm…I can do it for you, I guess,” Seongwoo agrees.

“You don’t have to do it _for me,”_ says Daniel, wrapping Seongwoo closer to him, “we can…er…race?”

“Like how.”

“Like…we can report to each other how much we have had each week?” Daniel offers with a laugh, understanding that it will not work.

“Yeah. I drank zero alcohol today, what about you?” Seongwoo affirms sarcastically following a snicker.

“We’ll start tomorrow,” Daniel chuckles.

“We’ll see.”

 

The two then remain in the same position for a few minutes in absolute tranquility.

“I never realise you have such hairy hands,” Seongwoo mumbles as he brushes Daniel’s hand with his, “you know what, I had a weird dream about you a few nights ago. We are in Chip and Dale costumes, running around in the airport.”

“And…then…?” Daniel drawls out slowly.

“And then…,” Seongwoo leaks a laughter before he continues, “and then I woke up and puke, like, for real. You can ask Jisung.”

Daniel does not respond.

“Ay, you slept?” Seongwoo asks softly. He cannot see Daniel from his position.

Daniel moves his hand to indicate he is still awake.

“You can take a bath first,” Seongwoo suggests, “I’m feeling a lot better now, I only need to rest up a bit before we can…um…yeah, continue what we were doing.”

Daniel did not get up. Instead, he holds Seongwoo even more tightly, intertwining their fingers as he pulls Seongwoo into him.

“We don’t have to do everything in one night,” Daniel utters tenderly, “we are not in a hurry. There is plenty of time, for us.”

Seongwoo lets out a beam from ear to ear after hearing what Daniel said. He wants to roll over and plants a kiss on Daniel, but Daniel’s arms prevent him from doing so.

“Goodnight,” Seongwoo mumbles, wiggling his body closer to Daniel.

“Goodnight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit:  
> The next chapter will be the longest one ever. Wish me luck in finishing it within this week T.T


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought this will be a long-ass chapter, but it's not T.T (still longer than my average though)  
> Have to sleep now it's way past mid-night here, I'll beta tomorrow. Thank you for your tolerance.

Spring.

Seongwoo wants buy a new car and he is now with Jisung in a car showroom near their home.

“You rich bitch,” Jisung utters bitterly, peeking into the interior of the Land Rover through the front window, “I know you have a car already in Busan and you are now buying a second one.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t receive the year-end bonus,” Seongwopo rolls his eyes, standing by the trunk, “I know Sungwoon-shi gave huge bonuses to both of us, cause we are still the loafers compared to other flagship stores. Apparently he wants us to stay here so that no aggressive people will come and fill in this power vacuum.”

“I know, but don’t tell me the bonus is so huge that you can pay this off,” Jisung scowls, pointing at the Land Rover.

“ _Bitch please_ , of course not, but it should be enough for the down payment…, I guess? I don’t know, I haven’t decided which one I should buy yet, that’s why we are here.” Seongwoo defends, “besides, I should put my driving license in good use, especially when I can’t stand commuting by public transport anymore. The metro during peak hours makes me feel like sardines in a can rather than a human being.”

“Fine, but if I remember correctly, don’t you have the same model in Busan?” asks Jisung.

“Well, I’m buying a new one just because it will be more convenient to have cars in both Seoul and Busan. I never hated the car,” Seongwoo explains, “why should I try getting used to a new one? It’s exhausting to break in something new.”

Jisung does not give a prompt response. Instead, he snorts in a dramatic fashion and walks towards Seongwoo.

“Yes it is,” Jisung answers vaguely, “why should you?”

Seongwoo tilts his head and stares at Jisung.

“Just go back to the old one if that’s something you are so used to,” Jisung continues.

“What are you talking about,” Seongwoo turns away in annoyance, “I’m talking about the  _car_.”

“Me too,  _wow_ , how coincidental,” Jisung jests, pointing at the Land Rover again, “you’ve already made up your mind, just get the one that you like.”

“Nah, maybe another day,” Seongwoo rejects as he follows Jisung to the exit, “I’m still choosing between black and beige for the colour of the leather seats.”

“Beige,” Jisung asserts.

“Why?” asks Seongwoo before he kneels down to tie his shoelaces.

“Pink hair fallouts are quite noticeable on black surfaces, like our sofa,” Jisung reveals as he continues to walk, failed to perceive that Seongwoo has stopped so.

“Huh? I can’t hear you, sorry,” Seongwoo jogs towards Jisung after his shoelaces are tied.

“Nothing, just beige is better,” Jisung brushes it off.

 

* * *

“Sorry for the wait,” Seongwoo apologises as he enters Daniel’s car and sits on the front passenger seat.

“Nah, it’s just a while,” Daniel soothes, holding the steering wheel with both hands, “and you finally cut your hair.”

“Yes, and the fact that you have to steer the wheel with both hands makes me very nervous,” Seongwoo chimes in, “I should’ve insisted on being the one driving, with my new fancy car.”

“Can you just spare me a chance as a new driver? I just got my license,” retorts Daniel with a laugh, switching lanes in order to get on to the highway, “I need practice before I can drive with admirable ease like you. Not like I can’t drive with only one hand, but with both hands I feel more…secure? You must have undergone that stage too.”

“Fine,” Seongwoo agrees while he turns his head more to face Daniel, “what did you tell  _him_  then?”

“About what.”

“About why you are not in Seoul but Chuncheon this weekend.”

“I told him it’s for team-building,” Daniel answers casually.

“What?” Seongwoo grimaces, “What if he calls Jaehwan?”

Daniel releases one of his hands on the steering wheel to hold Seongwoo’s. “Of course I notified Jaehwan, I told him not to answer the phone.”

Seongwoo loosens into a smile as he faces the front window again upon hearing the answer, “how much longer will it take?”

“Around an hour more?” Daniel speculates, stepping on the gas pedal as the car finally reaches the highway.

“Good, wake me up by then. We were having our annual stock-taking yesterday night, argh,” Seongwoo yawns, “I really need to sleep.”

-

The two finally arrive in ChunCheon an hour and a half later.

 

“Jaehwan told you about this place?” asks Seongwoo as he skip-walks back and forth in the living room.

“Yeah, he’s been to this hotel before,” Daniel affirms, rocking on a dining chair, “what do you think, you like it?”

“Or course I do, the living room alone is larger than my home and yours - combined, not to mention bamboo-themed interiors are always my favourite. But this is not a hotel,” answers Seongwoo with a beam, pointing at the washing machine, “It’s a service apartment.”

“You really enjoy distinguishing things with intricate differences. It’s a kind of accommodationwhere people stay at night anyway,” Daniel snorts with amusement.

“It doesn't make a difference in our case because we are here only here for a night,” Seongwoo flips his hair, “I’ll let that slide.”

“Well, you do you,” Daniel agrees, “by the way, you said you got some stuff for me on your text yesterday night, what is it?”

“Oh!” exclaims Seongwoo, reaching his bag, “well, can you close your eyes for a second?”

Daniel obliges, closing his eyes and resting his head on the dining table.

Right after, Seongwoo rushes in the kitchen and places a packet into the microwave.

Daniel can hear all the hustle and bustle, he can tell Seongwoo is travelling back and forth between the kitchen and the living room. It’s been a minute but Daniel is still unable to tell what Seongwoo is doing, even though he knows it has to be related with food.

“What is it?” yells Daniel across the room upon hearing the beep sound from the microwave.

“Be patient,” Seongwoo maintains, putting the food on a new plate.

“What the hell is it? Can I open my eyes now,” asks Daniel enthusiastically.

“Almost,” Seongwoo replies joyously, jogging towards the dining table, “keep your eyes closed.”

“I am,” Daniel affirms.

Seongwoo holds the plate right in front Daniel’s nose; the aroma causes Daniel to take a sniff before he opens his eyes.

It is a plate filled with normal-looking fried fishcakes.

“Err…I don’t mean to be a party pooper, but what’s all the hype about this,” asks Daniel, scratching his head.

“Tsk, you’ll know when you take a bite,” Daniel snorts.

Daniel follows and takes a nibble of it.

Instantly, he recognises it is not just any fishcakes commonly found on the street stalls in Seoul - the chewy collops of hot, lucent fish; the familiar fragrance and gloss of peanut oil; the rasp of salt; the mild crunch of the crisp batter.

The fishcakes have to be from  _that stall_  near their home in Busan, the one that Daniel enjoys the most.

“They now got a branch in Seoul?” Daniel marvels in amazement.

‘Why would a mum-and-pop food stall have a branch? I brought it all the way from Busan when I went back last week for my annual leave,” Seongwoo explains triumphantly, sitting opposite to Daniel, “such a pain, you know, I have to worry about whether it will turn rancid, thank god the stall owner assures me that they should last for two weeks if I freeze them. And then I have to pack it with dry-ice on my hand-carry luggage when I travel back by plane. And then I have to worry about where can I reheat it if we are staying at a hotel but not a service apartment.”

Daniel nods eagerly, locking his gaze on the fishcakes.

“That’s why I made a fine distinction between a hotel and a service apartment that comes with a kitchen, and I googled this place yesterday night just to make sure the kitchen does come with a microwave. If they don’t, I would have to bring cooking oil with me and reheat them with a frying pan,” Seongwoo continues.

Daniel nods again as he devours the fishcakes.

“Am I such a sweet person or what?” Seongwoo utters tenderly as he rests his chin on his hand, staring at Daniel across the dining table.

“You know the answer,” Daniel lets out a beam with his eyes turning in a straight line as he answers, who then focuses on finishing the food. Seongwoo, on the other hand, chooses to take a rest and lies on the sofa.

 

“Hey, can I ask you something?” says Daniel after taking a bite of a fishcake.

“What.”

“Promise me you won’t get mad first, and answer me honestly.”

“Just ask, what is it?”

“When did you and that Samsung guy start?”

“Why are you asking this again? I’ve told you the N-th time,” Seongwoo rolls his eyes, “also, he has a name. I know you know it. stop calling Minhyun  _the Samsung guy_  or  _the heart guy_.”

“But his eyes really do look like the heart from Comme des Garcons…, and it’s not an insult, just an honest and reasonable comparison. No one can deny that he is handsome, but just not as handsome as me.”

“I wanna puke,” Seongwoo frowns, rolling his eyes again.

“Feel free, that’s your specialty, your forte.”

“SHUT UP ALREADY!” Seongwoo yells with a laugh, “I hate you.”

Daniel shrugs his shoulders, “fine, what do you see in him then?”

Seongwoo is silent for a few seconds before he sits up with his back facing Daniel and slowly replies, “I don’t know.”

“Perhaps,” Seongwoo continues with the same posture, looking out through the window, “just perhaps, from the very beginning, I just wanted someone completely different from you.”

“Which means…?” Daniel inquires, trying to swallow the fishcake in his mouth.

“Which means I selfishly wanted someone who can make me feel secure all the time, because hecan always make me feel like - oh, he has to like me more than I like him, I am always safe. I don’t have to be swayed emotionally,” Seongwoo replies bluntly.

Seongwoo then stands up and hunches over the window frame to look at the scenery, while Daniel stares at Seongwoo’s back and remains silent, forgetting that he is supposed to finish the food.

He knows what does Seongwoo’s answer imply - Seongwoo, at times, has felt that he likes Daniel more than the other way round.

“I also asked him why he liked me, and he gave me a puzzling reason at first,” Seongwoo repeats the car-washing story, “he was driving me back home the other day, and there are people doing car-washing on the street outside the window. It was already 11pm, so I really wondered what they were actually doing. We had a good-natured banter; he insisted they were just washing their car, and I bizarrely hypothesised that they must have killed somebody in the car and they were cleaning the crime scene. Later on, he said this is the moment he fell in love with me, because I was so different from his dull past, and I give him an interesting perspective in seeing things in life. "

"I started crying after hearing that, I mean, of course, partially because I’m moved, but that’s not the whole reason. It’s because I realise what I hypothesised was very… _you._ _You_  are the one who always come up with these weirdly creative off-the-wall conspiracies and theories, like how you think gangster are involved in the hairdresser shop near our home in Busan. My mindset, my behaviour, and everything that I do, have all become heavily influenced by you before I even realise, and the epiphany really scares me.”

“I was… I was really looking for a guy different from you at first, but only to realise I’ve become exactly like you,” Seongwoo concludes as he strolls back to the sofa to lie on it again, “I tried so hard to quit Kang Daniel, in the end…, I just… became another Kang Daniel.”

 

Daniel parts his lips, wanting to say something decent to fill in the silence, but to no avail.

“Let me take a bath first,” says Seongwoo as he suddenly stands up.

“Can you take it later? We can take it…er…together. The bathtub is huge, but I want to reply to some email from work first,” Daniel blurts what he can think of without any organisation.

Seongwoo squints at Daniel, wiggling his eyebrows with a smirk before he replies, “not a bad idea, but that’s such a bad transition from we were talking about. Let me take a nap first then.”

 

* * *

Seongwoo wakes up 3 hours later at 6 p.m., only to see Daniel is on the phone. Thinking that he is still talking with his colleagues, Seongwoo strolls to the bathroom and turns the tap, filling the gigantic bathtub with water. He then immerses his hand into water to make sure it is of a desirable temperature, not icy cold, but also not scalding hot.

Another 15 minutes have passed before Daniel finally hangs up the phone. Seongwoo then stridestowards Daniell and gently asks, “are we going to bath together or what? The water is turning cold.”

From Daniel’s furrowed eyebrows, it is obvious to Seongwoo that something happened.

“Is everything okay?” Seongwoo questions with genuine concern.

“ _He_ had a car crash,” Daniel mumbles.

“Is he… okay?” Seongwoo stutters.

“He crashed onto a lamppost and sprinkled his wrist, but he is at home now after medical treatment,” Daniel elaborates in a low volume, “sorry.”

Seongwoo puts down his head, knowing what does Daniel’s  _sorry_  indicate - he has to go back to Seoul to check on Jihoon. He licks his lips again and again, secretly wishing that Daniel would miraculously choose to stay here.

Daniel then strides towards the front door before he can feel Seongwoo pulls his wrist from behind. He turns his head and sees Seongwoo staring at him with utter despair in the eyes.

“Can you not go,” asks Seongwoo emotionlessly.

“But there is a need to check on him,” Daniel weakly whispers.

“But…but you promised we will spend this weekend together, you promised. You promised to stay with me, you…,” Seongwoo utters in an incoherent manner.

“I’ll come back as soon as I can,” Daniel soothes, “I’ll come right back if he’s fine.”

Seongwoo releases his grip on Daniel’s wrists and leans back, turning his head away with his arms crossed, “deep down you know you won’t come back once you left.”

“Please,” Daniel pleads in a breathy voice before he lets out a sigh, “don’t be like this, he really just had an accident.”

“It's just a sprinkled wrist! He's NOT DEAD! He’s now HOME! which means he is FINE!” Seongwoo snaps, turning his head back to leer at Daniel.

“Where’s your compassion? Have you been too mean for too long that you've lost them in your life? What’s with you?” Daniel counters loudly, waving his arms, "you would’ve done the same if you were me."

The seconds of silence in the room that follows becomes painfully long for both of them. Seongwoo does not respond as he puts down his head again. Daniel also does not know what to do except shoving his hands into his pockets, until Seongwoo nods fervently a few more seconds later with his mouth pointing downwards.

“Right, right, of course, you are right,” Seongwoo mumbles as he continues to nod, fixating his gaze on the floor, “after all, he is Kang Daniel’s boyfriend, not me.”

“I…I’ll hurry,” Daniel glowers before he stutters towards the front door.

* * *

It’s already 9:30 pm when Daniel arrives at Jihoon’s home thanks to a traffic jam.

“I don’t know why, but I’ve been feeling perturbed in the last 6 months,” Jihoon mutters softly, letting Daniel to hold his injured wrist as they sit closely next to each other on the sofa.

“Since when?” asks Daniel, gazing at Jihoon’s wrist to avoid any eye contact while Jihoon stares at Daniel’s face.

“Since the time I bumped into your friends near your office,” Jihoon replies with the same soft voice, “I…I don’t know if you have noticed, I’ve been texting you more often. Before, I didn’t want to bother you when you are at work. But lately, I…I’ve found myself texting you and I become more and more anxious to see your reply. I don’t know why.”

Daniel is silent as he gently brushes Jihoon's fingers.

“The traffic wasn’t that heavy just then,” Jihoon continues to explain, almost starting to weep, “I just… dropped my phone on the carpet, and I…I won’t be able to feel calm and collected if I can’t see your reply. I knew I shouldn’t pick it up, but…I don’t want to miss your text, so I reached for it anyway, and then…the car crashed before I can do anything.”

Jihoon lays his head on Daniel’s lap as he wraps his arms around Daniel’s waist.

Right after, Daniel’s phone rings, and the ringtone sounds disturbingly loud in Daniel's ears.  He knows thoroughly the caller has to be Seongwoo. There is simply no way it would be another person.

“Don’t go,” Jihoon whimpers, holding Daniel’s waist more tightly as he starts to cry audibly,“Can you…not go, please?”

Daniel never thought he will face such a conundrum ever in his life.  With Jihoon crying aloud on his lap, he does not seem have a choice at all. After a sigh, he takes out his phone and presses the mute button, placing it on the coffee table afterwards.

Jihoon pulls Daniel closer to him as he continues to sob uncontrollably, “I’m sorry for being so useless.”

Daniel can only sense a heavy burden of guilt on him after hearing what Jihoon said. He can only brushes Jihoon’s hair gently as a reply while Jihoon continues to sob.

-

Jihoon does not fall asleep until 11:00pm.

 

Daniel is now alone in Jihoon’s living room, checking his own phone. Seongwoo did not call again after the first call, but he has left a voice message.

“ _Hi. You don’t have to bother coming back, cause…I’m leaving._

_Or perhaps you have never thought of coming back, cause you already made a choice. You said we don’t have to do everything in one night, but there are things that have their own timings. There are things that have to be done at that particular instant. There are things that you don't get a chance to do again._

_I often ask myself what have you done for me, and I...I can’t even think of a single thing. But I still can’t get over you, because I…I like you, no, I love you - so much, so much so that it scares me. I become the maddening and unreasonable person whenever I'm with you, because being away from you becomes very unbearable for me, and nothing seems to work to stop how it feels. But so what? We don't work either, and I understand this for long. I...I really do._

_So let’s just…let’s call it an end here, okay?_

_I told…”_

Daniel is perplexed at first to hear the voice message end abruptly at the middle of the sentence, until the system notifies that “the voicemail has reached its maximum length limit of one minute.” After that, he can only blink quickly with his mouth open as he gazes at his phone. A choking feeling around his throat forms as he can feel his eyes getting wet. He chooses to lie on the sofa, blankly stares at the ceiling to let time pass, not sure what should he do now, or how should he react.

-

Seongwoo has a lot more to say for the voice message, but he knows all those will only be blabbers that add no value to the content. He chooses to stop after the voicemail system tells him that he has reached the time limit. Without a car, Seongwoo simply cannot go home. Out of any choices, he can only call Minhyun to pick him up.

“I thought you told me that you are spending your weekend with Daehwi here?” Minhyun asks gently, guessing why his boyfriend is pulling a long face.

 

Seongwoo cannot answer Minhyun’s question, for obvious reasons. In fact, he cannot even force a smile as he sits silently next to Minhyun. They are now on their way home in absolute quietness. Seongwoo looks out through the window to distract himself, while Minhyun focuses on driving after receiving no replies from his boyfriend, realising that Seongwoo does not want to talk at all.

 

The car comes to a stop in front of Seongwoo’s apartment at almost 12:00 a.m., Both of them, however, sit still on their respective seats, knowing there is a need to sort things out.

“Sorry,” Seongwoo utters, putting his head down. He cannot even take a look at his boyfriend’s face.

“If you cannot decide, choose him,” Minhyun replies calmly, “you don’t have to worry about me.”

Seongwoo puts his head further down, feeling the guilt eating him alive. The lack of further questions from Minhyun on their way home (even after receiving no replies) supports Seongwoo’s speculation that Minhyun has found out what is happening. He may not have a clear picture, but Minhyun must be aware that Seongwoo is not on a trip with Daehwi, but with someone of romantic interest. What he just said is a clear confirmation.

“I’ve been lying to you,” Seongwoo sniffs, turning his head to Minhyun, “I’m sorry.”

“Then, do you still want to be with me?”

Seongwoo is silent - he is caught off-guard by Minhyun's question.

“Let’s just forget the past, and start our own lives together,” Minhyun continues earnestly, gazing at Seongwoo in his eyes, “can we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May add in more sidenotes when I wake up:  
> 1\. We are reaching 75% of the story...!? (I think) #YAY  
> 2\. Thank you for all your comments. Sometimes I get very excited when I see comments rolling in, especially when different people support different endgame, which makes me look at my story from a very different way.  
> 3\. I did consider expanding the side-characters in this universe and write separate fics for some of them (and form a series). But that needs planning and time. Let's just focus on finishing this fic first. A prequel and a sequel are also not impossible, but that will need even more time and planning because that means introducing new characters and plot lines. I also have some other totally irrelevant ideas in my mind but once again they are to be dealt with after this fic ends.  
> 4\. I have never thought of reaching 100 kudos and I can't believe we are reaching a triple of that number, which means at least 300 people on Earth didn't find my fic horrible, that's a great relief for me tbh. Thank you.
> 
> Once again, thank you for your tolerance. XOXO.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. I rewrote a lot of the parts in this chapter for a few times.  
> It's daybreak here once again FML. Will beta when I wake up. Sorry.  
> -  
> Edit: Made some edits on the second half of the chapter because I just want more natural conversations lol  
> -  
> Thank you for your tolerance.

For the whole week, Seongwoo has been slacking off.

He does go to work, but he, so does Jisung, knows that his soul is not with him. Even Youngmin and Woojin notice something is out of the ordinary when Jisung lets Seongwoo laze in the storeroom like a lifeless zombie and voluntarily shoulder most of his responsibilities.

“I don't want to be harsh, cause I know what happened," Jisung utters lowly as he sees Seongwoo finally arrive at work, "but still, can you not be _that_ late, it’s hard to cover you up."

“It’s just because your cat pissed on my bed once again,” Seongwoo blusters in annoyance, placing his earphones in his pocket.

“Er, wait, we made a pact. The cat is yours during weekends and Mondays. It’s your responsibility to keep the cat alive during that time,” Jisung reminds.

“Well, he is, and he is fed before I left,” Seongwoo assures, sitting by the cashier, “and you don’t have to cover me up, cause I’m not late. I am the Manager, which means I take the attendance here. We are all on time.”

Jisung immediately places a finger in front of his mouth, warning Seongwoo to lower his voice, “except when District Manager-nim is also here, he wants to see you.”

“Sungwoon-shi is here?” Seongwoo wonders, “why?”

“Why would I know,” Jisung shrugs his shoulders before he points at the storeroom, “he’s been here for 30 minutes. You better come up with some acceptable excuses.”

 

-

 

“Good morning, Sungwoon-shi,” Seongwoo greets with a bow after a knock on the door.

“Oh, hey! Good morning!” Sungwoon returns the courtesy by waving his hand, “please take a seat.”

“Sorry for the wait, uh, there is a traffic jam, yeah,” Seongwoo half-heartedly apologises.

“Don’t worry, accidents happen often during commute hours,” Sungwoon assures, pressing the fingertips of his hands together to form a church steeple, “Seongwoo-ah, how long have you been here in Seoul?”

“Er…nine months?” Seongwoo counts; he does not remember precisely.

“Then, have you heard of Innisfree Jeju House in, uh, obviously, Jeju?” asks Sungwoon.

Seongwoo shakes his head; he does not even care.

“Well, it’s like just like other Innisfree branches, but it comes with a cafe, a soap-making workshop and a tea field,” Sungwoon informs, “we are trying to open something similar here in Seoul, precisely, in Myeongdong. You know, Myeongdong is the biggest tourist hub here.”

“An Innisfree with a tea field in Myeongdong?” Seongwoo inquires.

“Oh, not that part,” Seungwoon giggles, crossing his arms, “we want an Innisfree with a cafe here. It will be four-storeys high and be called as Innisfree Green Cafe, opposite to the Lotte Department Store.”

Seongwoo nods his head, wondering what does this have to do with him.

“I nominated you to be the new store manager there,” Sungwoon reveals.

“Huh?” Seongwoo gasps, scrunching his nose.

“Yeah. Also, we are restructuring, the Store Manager of the flagship store in each district will concurrently hold the position of District Manager,” Sungwoon explains as he leans in, “and by that it means you will concurrently hold the position as the District Manager in Myeongdong, so it’s a promotion, for the exact reason why I nominated you to come to Seoul.”

“What…What about you, Sungwoon-shi?” asks Seongwoo as he points at Seungwon, “if… if you are the District Manager here, are you going to be the Store Manager here also?”

“No. Jisung will be. I’m promoted to the Regional Manager of Seoul, or else why can I nominate you,” Sungwoon explains with a laugh, “I cannot stand storefront duties anymore, hahaha.”

Seongwoo silently nods again, puzzled by Sungwoon’s ridiculously frequent promotions. He knows there is no value in challenging Sungwoon about this when he also benefits from it.

“I have to to inform you about this in person, because your flagship store is different from any others. Therefore, the company wants you to receive hands-on training from the one in Jeju first, especially the part concerning the management of the cafe, which is completely new to you,” Sungwoon explains, “As such, you will be transferred to Jeju for three months before you come back to Seoul. That will be around the time when the store opens, are you okay with that?”

Seongwoo is hesitant for a few seconds before he feebly nods his head. Leaving Seoul for a while to start afresh is not exactly a bad idea for him, especially with what happened in the past few months.

“It’s interesting, you nodded your head much more quickly when you agreed to come to Seoul, but you seem to be a bit reluctant this time, even though it’s just for a few months,” Sungwoon remarks as he tilts his head, "anything happened? Grew your roots here?” You still have a month here, by that it means you will come back four months from now, and you can always take your annual leave in between, so don’t worry.”

“No, nothing really happened,” Seongwoo forces a smile, “anywhere is just the same for me, yeah.”

* * *

 

Another week passes slower than Seongwoo wants.

“Can you tell me again why are we in a karaoke for a move-in party for Daehwi?” whispers Seongwoo, dully sitting in the corner of the dimly lit karaoke room.

“Well, this is supposed to be a house-warming party for him and his boyfriend,” answers Jisung with an equally low volume, “but some pipes bursted in their kitchen and the floor was flooded this morning, so we have switch places.”

“Such bad luck,” Seongwoo comments flatly, “and why is Youngmin and Woojin here? Together with their boyfriends? Do they even know Daehwi?”

“Apparently Minki introduced them to Daehwi after our Christmas party and they are now best buddies,” Jisung adds, chewing his straw on his cup of Martini, “also, consider Daehwi’s past, this is not _that_ bad. I can’t believe I’m going to see his boyfriend in person.”

“What do you mean, it’s like the fifth relationship he is in. You must have met some of his previous boyfriends in the flesh.”

“Well, I get to see all his previous boyfriends in their funerals,” Jisung explains, “do those occasions count as _in the flesh_?”

“I truly can’t tell if you are being genuine or sarcastic,” Seongwoo answers.

“Tsk, he is our close friend. I’m genuinely happy to see his boyfriend… alive and well? Do you think he knows about Daehwi’s real name and history by now?” Jisung wonders.

“Of course,” Seongwoo retorts, rolling his eyes, "or else why would he invite me?"

“Right,” replies Jisung, lifting his head up as a sign of his late realisation, “and I can’t wait to see how he looks like.”

“Don’t hold your hopes too high, do you remember the date I was set up with under the same programme, he looks completely forgettable,” Seongwoo reminds.

Jisung nods before both of them see Daehwi standing up with a microphone in his hand.

“Hi everyone, sorry for the sudden change of venue,” Daehwi greets with his microphone under his chin, “uh, Jinyoung is coming, he is still on the phone with the plumber, we can start firs…”

 

A man knocks on the door and enters their room before Daehwi even finishes the sentence.

It is Jinyoung.

“Babe!” yells Daehwi, bouncing into the arms of Jinyoung.

“I miss you,” mumbles Jinyoung next Daehwi’s ear, planting a kiss on his cheek.

Jisung hurriedly grips Seongwoo by his wrist as the two stares at Jinyoung, suprised by how handsome he is. He may look too young to be Seongwoo’s type, but by all means is he the opposite of forgettable.

“Hello, I’m Bae Jinyoung, Daehwi’s boyfriend, please just call me Jinyoung,” Jinyoung greets with a shy smile, waving his hand in a tentative manner, “may I ask which one of you is Ong Seongwoo-shi?”

Jisung turns his head to Seongwoo while the latter hesitantly stands up, raising his hand.

“…Hi,” Jinyoung greets with a smile, holding Daehwi’s hand before they walk together towards Seongwoo.

“Hi,” Seongwoo replies, holding out his hand.

To Seongwoo’s surprise, Jinyoung does not return the gesture. He gives Seongwoo a bow before he pulls out the chair next to Seongwoo’s and signals Daehwi to sit first.

"Mind your step,” Jinyoung utters softly to Daehwi, to which the latter responds with a radiating smile.

“I want to thank you for not showing up that day,” Jinyoung continues, pulling out the chair next to Daehwi to sit on it, “or else, Daehwi and I would not have met.”

Seongwoo nods lightly, agreeing that Jinyoung matches Daehwi more than him _by far_.

“You are our cupid,” Jinyoung adds, nudging Daehwi’s head to to his own shoulder, “if you came forward that day, the ending would not be perfect for sure.”

Seongwoo forces a smile as he turns his head and sends a telltale gaze to Jisung, just to make sure he is not the only one puzzled by Jinyoung’s phrasing.

“If we ever adopt a child one day, even though that day may possibly be in the distant future, Seongwoo-shi, you have to be his godfather,” Jinyoung proposes, placing his hand on Daehwi’s shoulder so that he can lean in, “what do you think, babe?”

“Of course,” Daehwi agrees before Jinyoung then plants a kiss on his forhead.

Seongwoo changes his forced smile to a benevolent one. Even though it is repulsive to witness any “greasiness” of love for him, Seeing his friends in love remains to be delightful.

“I know my babe’s road in love has been very bumpy. All his boyfriends… encountered a shortened period of existence, but it’s okay. He gave me confidence in life, and we will face this together. I will make sure I am always here for him.” Jinyoung reassures with determination in his eyes before he pecks Daehwi’s forehead one more time, holding him tighter.

Seongwoo cannot help but reverts his smile back to a forced one as the speech sends chills down his spine. Jisung straight off wants to puke by the public display of affection, and he can tell Seongwoo shares the same feeling from his furrowed eyebrows.

“Have you guys bought a washing machine for your new apartment yet?” Jisung suddenly chimes in, “if you guys haven’t, don’t”

“Why?” asks Daehwi.

“You won’t need clothes,” Jisung explains, “once you two lovey-dovey live together, I can’t even imagine a time where you two will want to put your clothes back on.”

Seongwoo bursts into laughters immediately, knowing what does Jisung’s answer imply.

“Don’t say that,” Daehwi weakly defends.

“Actually,” Jinyoung follows, holding Daehwi closer to him, “Jisung-shi is not wrong.”

The couple then giggles between themselves, while Seongwoo, together with all other guests, open their mouths wide open.

“Er… _WOW_ , what a happy day, right? Yes, it has to be. Yes, yes,” Jisung interjects loudly as he raises his pint of beer, trying his best to mitigate the awkwardness, “let’s have a toast, cheers!!!!”

“CHEERS!!!!!!!!!”

-

“ ♫♫ _Nal neomuneomuneomu Neomuneomuneomu neomuneomuneomu Neomuneomuneomu neomuneomuneomu Neomu johahamyeon geuttae malhaejwo~~_ ♫♫ ”

Daehwi and Jinyoung are joyfully singing karaoke in front of the television, while Jisung is playing ring of fire with Youngmin and Woojin (and their boyfriends), a game that Seongwoo totally hates.

Seongwoo does not know what to do apart from slowly finishing his beer in silence. The background music, singing voices and screams bombarding his ears become blurrier and blurrier. T he vibration from his phone nudges him from blankly gazing into the distance a few minutes later. He takes out his phone to have a look, only to find it is a text from _him_.

 

**Kang Daniel:**

Can we talk?

 

Seongwoo wants to ignore the text, but he knows Daniel is different from him. From their experience in Busan, Daniel will not give up easily if he receives no reply.

 

**Ong Seongwoo:**

Can’t. Am at a karaoke.

 

**Kang Daniel:**

Where?

 

-

Seongwoo is now standing in front of another karaoke room. He peeps into the room through thenarrow window as he places one hand on the doorknob, and he finds Daniel quietly sitting on the sofa with his head down.

After taking in a big breath, he barges in.

“ _Why are you here alone, sir?_ ” Seongwoo starts with an eerie smile, stomping towards the sofa “ _Mama Seongwoo always has the best girls, and the boys, why don’t you call some up here for some fun, huh? you want sexy teachers, naughty nurses or slutty french maids?_ ”

Daniel stares at Seongwoo, unsure of how should he reply. He knows Seongwoo is being passive-aggressive by putting up an act.

“ _Oh right,_ _Mama Seongwoo forgot_ ,” Seongwoo continues his act, leaning forward after he sits on the sofa, glaring at Daniel, “ _Mr. Daniel you are into innocent flight attendants. Silly me, ha ha ha._ ” 

“Sorry,” Daniel utters slowly, “I’m sorry about last time.”

“ _Well, since we knew each other for long, how about Mama Seongwoo buys you a 6-pack of beer and we’re done here?_ ,” Seongwoo suggests, continuing his act.

“I’m serious,” Daniel emphasises.

Seongwoo finally reciprocates Daniel’s stares after he sits up straight on the sofa. A few more blinks later, he blusters in annoyance, “don’t you think we are just repeating ourselves?”

“Repeating what?”

“We are just running in circles from Busan to Seoul, and I am just… always chosen over by something else.” Seongwoo fumes, blurting out anything he could’ve thought of, “You know what, and I’m fine with it. I’m even fine with repeating ourselves. I’m willing to try, but it doesn’t. fucking. work. We will still undergo the same fucking problem, because you won't fucking change.”

“No, I… I did try to change,” Daniel instantly reasons, “I really, really, really wanted to come back to find you after making sure everything’s okay. I know I may return late, but I will. If I didn’t plan to come back, I wouldn’t leave you alone there. I would’ve driven you home first, cause I know your car was not with you.”

Seongwoo is silent as he stares vacantly on the coffee table, finding Daniel’s justification not totally unreasonable.

“Look, imagine Minhyun crashed his car that day, you would’ve visited him also. Why am I the wrong one to make a visit? You left our hotel room before we even have a chance to talk again, and then I’m instantly asserted as a person who simply left you alone. Isn’t that a bit too unfair for me?” Daniel asks.

Seongwoo shifts his gaze back to Daniel again, he knows his own eyes now radiates a sense of softness - something Daniel can also tell.

“When I was back to Seoul that night, all… all I can think about is you. I… I realise, I just want to be you… I…,”

Before Daniel can finish, however, Daniel’s phone on the corner table rings, and b oth of them can clearly see from display that the caller is Jihoon.

Instantly, Seongwoo turns his head away as he brushes his hair with his hand in irritation while Daniel flips his phone back-side up to mute the call.

With his eyes are filled with spite once again, Daniel can tell Seongwoo is visibly exasperated by being reminded of the unfading presence of Jihoon. Originally, Daniel wants to tell Seongwoo that he loves him equally. He wants to become official with Seongwoo again. He wants to propose that they set up a deadline for making things clear with their current boyfriends.  Yet, Daniel knows the call has just completely shattered all the momentum that he has built-up for his impending speech; a nd they are now back to square one - the stage when Seongwoo first came in.

 

The two sit in an extremely uncomfortable silence for a few seconds before a knock on the door is then heard.

“Good afternoon, any drinks you guys would like to order?” asks the waiter at the door.

“Give him a 6-pack of Heineken,” Seongwoo answers flatly across the room, “he’ll leave after that, charge the bill on Room 301.”

“Thank you,” answers the waiter before he closes the door.

Right after, Seongwoo stands up with a stomp, marching towards the door.

“Don’t go,” begs Daniel when Seongwoo is one step away from leaving, “I…I still have things to say.”

Seongwoo responds with the same eerie smile when he enters, “why don’t you tell Jihoon about what you want to say then? He must be a great listener who wants to hear your voice 24/7.”

Seongwoo makes sure the door is slammed loudly behind him before he takes heavy steps to the front door of the room with his friends, wiping his eyes dry before he opens the door.

-

“Hey! You finish your poop on the right time,” Daehwi exclaims joyously at Seongwoo, pointing at the television, “this song has to be yours.”

Right after Daehwi finishes his sentence, the intro of In The Same Place plays in the room - the song that Seongwoo’s first love wrote for him

Seongwoo forces a smile before he grabs the microphone on the coffee table and sits on the sofa, trying as hard as he can to act like nothing happened. He starts with a stable voice. As the song goes on, however, Seongwoo’s voice starts to shake. Even though the song is supposed to be between Seongwoo and his first love - Jinyoung, he realises the lyrics viscerally correspond to his current situation with Daniel.

“ ♫♫ … _When I hear that song while walking along the streets, I occasionally think of you, say hello to you_. _We pretend not to know each other, looking elsewhere._ ♫♫ _We walk different paths in this space that we don’t understand_ … _Under the same sky, at the same time, in the same place, we’re probably seeing other people…we were too young and…we don’t…_ ♫♫ ”

They are now seeing other people under the same sky, at the same time, in the same place - just as the song suggests.

Every word becomes harder and harder to enunciate than the previous one for Seongwoo; for how he starts to choke and his vision becomes blurry.

Seongewoo now absolutely loathes how this song is interwoven with some of the happier times with Daniel - the time they boast about their ex-boyfriends; the time they banter as they lounge on the sofa; the time they paddle on Han River; the time when Daniel accepts defeat after finding out this song is really about him.

Not wanting other party guests to find out what happened from the deteriorating stability of his voice, Seongwoo takes a large sniff before he announces with a shaky voice, “sorry…the…the notes are too high to reach, haha.” He then wraps his arms around him and stops singing.

Right after, Daehwi and Jinyoung grab the other microphones on the coffee table and start to sing the song in an absurdly cheerful manner.

 

“ ♫♫ _We walked a path of no return, Now we can’t see each other again, We’ll become strangers now. Love and separation coexists is the reality of meeting you, we’ll have to abide by it, don’t we?…_ ♫♫ ”

The lyrics linger in Seongwoo's brain. They _are_ on a path of no-return as the song connotes.

Seongwoo has to put his head down to hide his trails of tears while the couple continues to sing at full blast. This is not the first time he is separated from Daniel, but this time feels way more harrowing than the first time for him - _way more_. He hates how he is still analytical enough to ascribe the difference to how clear-cut this time their break up is.

As soon as he slightly curls his back to hide his heaving chest, someone hastily places pieces of tissue paper on Seongwoo’s lap. He lifts his head up slightly to take a peek of who it is.

It is Jisung, who remains his gaze on the television with a smile and nods in accordance with the rhythm of the song, trying not to draw attention from any other guests. 

Agilely, Seongwoo grabs the tissue paper and dabs it on his face to dry the tears while the lovebird ends the song merrily.

“ ♫♫ _I wish you happiness, now goodbye goodbye…_ ♫♫ ”

The outro of the song plays in the background as Seongwoo puts down the microphone on the coffee table. He then leans into Jisung and whispers, “th…thank you.”

“ _Bitch please_ , that’s why we are friends.”

* * *

 

Daniel finished all 6 cans of beer in the room eventually just to hocus himself from the reality of losing Seongwoo.

Unsurprisingly, he suffers from a hangover the next day. The feeling of extreme fatigue, together with a sense of emptiness, however, persist thereafter. Thinking that work can be a tool of mental anaesthesia, he makes extra efforts in completing all the projects currently in his hand. Still, every night when he lies on the bed, the feeling of hollowness simply resurfaces.

He is now droopily sitting in Jihoon’s living room, staring off into the vacant distance through the window. 

 

“I got this for you from Hong Kong Disneyland,” Jihoon starts eagerly, handing Daniel a pair of Chip and Dale dolls after placing his camera on the coffee table, “aren’t they cute?”

Daniel holds the two dolls in his hands before he dryly replies, “I’m actually not a big fan of Disney, and I…I can’t tell who is who.”

“Huh? But you got a Chip and Dale cushion on your bed,” Jihoon wonders, sitting next to Daniel on the sofa, “never mind, give them to me. I’ll show you how.”

Daniel silently passes the dolls to Jihoon before the latter explains with a smile, “The one with a black nose is Chip, and the one with a red nose is Dale.”

Daniel can only blankly stare at the two dolls as he answers, “it doesn’t matter. It… doesn’t matter anymore.”

“No! You have to tell them apart, because you are Chip, you are the one with two centred teeth when you smile, which is one of his features other than his black nose,” Jihoon defends, handing the Chip doll to Daniel while he holds the Dale one, “can you not be that dumb? It’s not hard to differentiate, haha.”

“Yes, yes indeed. I’m very dumb,” says Daniel as he stares at the doll at this hand.

Jihoon is unprepared for Daniel’s dull response, he contorts a constrained smile and places the Dale doll on the sofa as he utters, “I… I am just kidding.”

“No, I’m just dumb,” Daniel insists, “after so long, I still forget that the one who has centred teeth is Chip.”

“Shall… shall we eat out?” Jihoon tries to divert the attention as he places the camera on his lap, “we can have pizz…”

“He said the same thing 2 years ago,” Daniel interjects flatly, “he said that I’m Chip, because I smile with two teeth showing, and he’s Dale. He is the one who likes Chip and Dale; he is the one who gave me the worn out cushion on my bed.”

Jihoon freezes as he runs every single word of Daniel’s reply in his mind. He does not want to understand who his boyfriend is referring to, but the bitter truth is - he thoroughly does.

 

“ _He_ ” is Seongwoo.

Jihoon presses his lips into a thin line for a moment before he breaks the silence.  “If… if you have long known that you cannot forget him,” he quavers with a soft voice, staring at Daniel with despair, “why… why do you have to be with me?”

“I’m sorry,” Daniel utters slowly while he shifts his gaze to the floor.

“No! I don’t want to hear you say sorry! I don’t need your sorry! I, I… _argh_ …,” Jihoon shouts in anger before he calms himself and changes back to a peaceful tone, “I… I know there are times that I’m not good enough. Just tell me. I… I can change.”

“No, no. it’s… it’s my problem,” Daniel admits, “you’re good, very good indeed.”

“And you don't want me now because I’m good. Do you even know what are you talking about?” Jihoon hisses.  He runs his hands through his hair as he lowers his head to hide his tears, ignoring that Daniel is leaning in slowly, parting his mouth a few times before forming a complete sentence.

“When...when I was in Busan, I love the fried fishcakes from a food stall near my home a lot, and people often ask me why do I like that particular shop so much, especially when you can buy fishcakes everywhere. Yes, it is sometimes too oily and salty, but... but I just love it, and when you love something, it is good. It's not the other way round,” Daniel explains incoherently, “he’s good because… I love him; Everything he does is good because… I love him; He is perfect… because I love him. I love him because… I love him, and by that, he is good.”

“What is the point of rubbing this in my face,” Jihoon’s voice becomes raspy as he can feel tears continue to form around the corner of his eyes.

“No, that… that’s not what I meant,” Daniel mutters, “I don’t want to leave things hanging and fill you with unanswered questions. It hurts even more, I don’t want you to question yourself…, it’s not your problem. It’s really not.”

“That just means you don’t even bother to lie to me anymore, right?" Jihoon asks lifelessly before he takes a big sniff, “that night, I… I begged you not to leave me after my car crashed. But I knowdeep down that your soul has never been here since that time we bumped into him, right? We… we have been together for almost one year, but I was never in your mind, not even for a few seconds, am I right? Huh?”

Daniel straightens his lips into one straight line while Jihoon looks out through the window, letting the tears form two visible trails on his face.

“Am I?” Jihoon repeats again while the tears continue to flow from his eyes.

“No, I… I really thought I can I get over him, but... but everything came back to me at an instant when I saw him again. I... I still tried to get over him even after that, but... the more I try, the more I realise I like him,” Daniel confesses after a pause, “It’s… It’s unfair to you if my mind is occupied by him while I'm with you, and that's why I’m so honest. I… I don’t want you to overthink. I’m sorry.”

Jihoon nods as he sniffs repeatedly, gaining control of his tears.

“I…,” Daniel tries to fill in the silence.

“So you think you can leave just like that? Simply for being honest?” Jihoon interrupts as he stands up and steps forward to Daniel, staring at him with noticeable menace, "Kang Daniel, so you think you can leave nothing for me and walk out of this room? Huh?"

Daniel immediately lifts his head and leans back, unsure of how should he respond.

“Don't even think about leaving this room if you don't leave me a part of you,” Jihoon warns with an eerily calm tone, taking one more step forward to Daniel.

Daniel is frightened, he has never seen this side of Jihoon. He gapes at Jihoon with his mouth open, fearing about his own safety.

Without any warning, Jihoon takes another big, forceful step towards Daniel. The latter immediately leans back further and turns his head away.

_ CLICK-CLACK SHTRAK! _

A blinding flash then engulfs Daniel’s face. He closes his eyes tightly, and he can hear the same sound again.

_ CLICK-CLACK SHTRAK! _

Daniel vaguely recalls this as the sound of Jihoon’s film camera - the one that he uses when they first met. He slowly opens his eyes, only to see Jihoon chuckle, even though the trails of tears are still clearly visible. 

“You should look at your scared face. What do you think I'm gonna do, physically hurt you?” Jihoon asks calmly as he forces a wry smile, holding the camera in his hand. 

Daniel blinks quickly as he tries to decipher what happened. He only remembers that Jihoon had a camera on his lap before their conversation turned heavy, and he is completely absorbed to properly communicate with Jihoon since then. What is the exact moment when Jihoon holds the camera in his hand will forever be beyond Daniel’s knowledge.

“Okay, I’ve… I’ve kept a part of Kang Daniel now,” Jihoon whimpers, staring at his own camera with anguish, “He can have the rest."

Daniel can only gaze at Jihoon with guilt. He wants to apologise yet again, but he reckons that will only result in backlash.

"Do you still remember when we first met,  I... I told you that imperfections make things more real, and you replied to me that I'm not too real then?" asks Jihoon as he continues to stare at the camera, avoiding all sorts of eye contact, "I guess... I guess you are right from the beginning. To you, I’ve never been a real person. I’m just… a lifebuoy when you are drowning in the open ocean.”

Daniel wants to deny what Jihoon said, but he understands it will be better to be silent. He reaches the tissue box when he sees Jihoon’s eyes become watery again, only to be stopped by Jihoon who pushes his arm away.

“No, please don’t, I… I’ve already kept a part of you, and I shall return you to him,” Jihoon rejects, wiping his tears with his forearm, "No, I should’ve returned, for long.”

Daniel lower his head as he once again becomes speechless.

“You can go now,” Jihoon slowly utters, walking back to his bedroom, “just lock the door and place my keys under the doormat when you leave. Thank you, Daniel-shi, and good night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your tolerance once again XOXO.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, and yes. This is the final chapter.
> 
> I beta'd all my previous chapters before (except this one, because it's daybreak here once again), will beta this chapter soon.
> 
> Thank you for your tolerance.

Seongwoo is restocking eyeliners on the shelf when he sees a familiar face walk pass him and stop at the brow pencil section.  Intrigued, he takes a step closer as he locks his gaze on the customer’s face, just to make sure he is not mistaken.

And he is not, the customer is someone that everyone knows.

Seongwoo swallows hard before he takes another step and politely greets, “Hi,…good afternoon, I’m the Store Manager here.”

The customer responds with a smile and replies, “hello.”

“Are…are you Sunye-shi from the Wonder Girls?” asks Seongwoo with noticeable joy.

Sunye nods her head as her smile continues to hold.

“Oh my god,” Seongwoo loosens into a wide and easy smile with all his teeth showing, “it’s so nice to meet you. I… I really like all the songs from Wonder Girls. I always sing your songs when I go to a karaoke. It’s my last shift here in this branch. I can’t believe I get to meet a celebrity.”

“Thank you,” Sunye smiles, picking up a black brow pencil from the shelf.

“No, it’s really my pleasure to meet you,” Seongwoo eagerly replies, “er… Are you looking for brow pencils?”

“Yeah. Any recommendations?”

“Umm… the one in your hand may be a bit too dark. You may have to apply it very gently every time, or else it’s easy to overdo your brows with this colour, especially at times when you want fuller ones,” Seongwoo answers enthusiastically, alternating his gaze between the shelf and Sunye’s brows, “let me see…, umm… what about this one?”

“I think this dark brown colour will match you more. It is around one shade lighter than your black hair, so it will help in softening your features but also accentuating more on the eyes,” Seongwoo elaborates, applying the pencil on the back of his hand as a demonstration, “the slanted tip will be very helpful when you want to define the end of your brows.”

“It looks good, thank you so much,” Sunye approves with a grin, “You are really helpful. No wonder you are the Store Manager here.”

“You’re welcome,” Seongwoo replies, slightly lowering his head to scratch the back of his neck, “umm…do you mind if I ask you a question?”

Sunye gazes at Seongwoo for a second before she agrees, “Sure, go ahead.”

“You know, um, you get married when you are at the peak of the your stardom, and I think it takes a lot of courage to step down from all the glamour and fame. After you retire from the entertainment industry, have you sometimes felt sentimental or, umm…, for lack of a better word, regret when you look back?” asks Seongwoo cautiously, “sorry, I don't know how to phrase it nicely.”

Sunye radiates a bright smile before she answers, “No, not at all. Of course I love being a singer and perform in front of everyone; all the cheers and chants are music to my ears. But when you get to meet someone who you love and are in love with, you just…, I don’t know, you just want to lead a more typical life with that person and settle down. When you love and are in love with someone, you feel wonderful just to be with that person, even without all the glitter and glamour.”

“That’s very sweet,” Seongwoo compliments, trying to squeeze something from their conversation to lengthen the one-to-one conversation with a celebrity, “your husband must be the person you love and are in love with, but um…isn’t the two the same thing? To love and to be in love?”

“Oh, no, not at all. They are entirely different,” Sunye replies with a laugh, “Loving someone is appreciating someone’s existence in your life. You can love somebody from a distance, but definitely not so when you are in love with someone. To be in love is all-consuming, and it’s the intense passion you feel that makes it unbearable to be away from that person - the person that first pops up in your mind when you are about to stop breathing.”

Seongwoo becomes silent and darts his eyes away for a few seconds to digest Sunye’s speech. He then answers with a diplomatic smile, “Thank you, it’s very nice of you to answer a stupid fan question in such great detail. I’m sorry for asking such a bold question.”

“Don’t worry, it always happens. I encounter this kind of questions in all kinds of stores, some ajummas love asking me this when they bump into me in supermarkets,” Sunye waves her hand, “uh… can I pay by credit card?”

“Sure, this way please.”

* * *

Daniel knows Seongwoo is avoiding him.

From their experience in Busan, he knows crashing his home does not work. Therefore, he chooses to visit where Seongwoo works, thinking that if he really is there, there is a lower chance for him to "escape".

Yet, Daniel can only see Jisung at the storefront.

“Hi,” Daniel hesitantly greets before he chews his lip.

“What are you jerk doing here?” Jisung scoffs, glaring at Daniel.

“Is…Is Seongwoo here?” Daniel asks with a soft voice.

“Leave him alone, please,” Jisung hisses as he sorts the bottles of lip tints on the shelf by their shades.

“No, uh, I just want to talk to him, and, uh…,” Daniel defends.

“and what? And patch things up? That’s just a nice way to put it for you to fuck with him again,” Jisung retorts, “he’s not here.”

“Where… where is he? I… I remember he has night shift on Wednesdays.”

“Well, he was here this morning, but it’s not his shift now.” Jisung answers impatiently, “he left a few hours ago. Why don’t you just call him and ask?”

“He won’t pick up my phone,” Daniel mumbles with woe.

“Just use another phone, did you sit on your brain?,” Jisung casually proposes, stepping towards another shelf to organise the bottles of nail polish, “oh, well, on second thought, why don’t you use Jihoon’s phone? Seongwoo must not have his number.”

“Um, we…, we broke up,” Daniel murmurs, putting his head down.

Jisung halts his action at once and turns his head to stare at Daniel before he resumes his task and utters, “well, good for Jihoon.”

“Um…, uh, will he by any chance come back here today?” Daniel asks.

“Are you seriously asking? Or you are just grasping at straws?” Jisung heckles, “who will return to where they work for no reason at all after office hours, except when he or she is possessed by the worst kind of demons imaginable.”

Daniel puts down his head, looking noticeably defeated.

“Actually, Seongwoo won’t be here anymore. It’s his last day here, so don’t bother coming back here,” Jisung reveals coldly.

“What? where… where is he? where did he go?” Daniel immediately lifts his head and asks nervously, “Why…why didn’t he tell me this?”

“Who the fuck do you think you are to him?” Jisung bristles in annoyance.

“Uh…, I just…,” Daniel mumbles.

“He’s transferred to Jeju for 3 months, but he took a week-off to travel back to Busan first,” Jisung informs, walking towards another shelf.

“When… When is his flight?” asks Daniel.

“Tonight, he is taking the train, 9:30 in Seoul Station,” Jisung explains in a speed slower than usual, “it’s around 30 minutes from here by taxi.”

Daniel takes a look of his watch, it’s 8:15.

He has planned something for this meet-up, which is supposed to be done in a movie theatre nearby. With only around an hour left, he knows it is too late; Seongwoo must be in the train station by now.

Daniel nods his head lightly and straightens his lips into one thin line for a moment, uttering “thank you” before he slowly lumbers towards the exit with his head down.

“ _Gosh, arggggh_ ,” Jisung jogs from behind and stands in front of Daniel, staring at Daniel with a scowl, “what kind of person are you? You’ve never thought of chasing him back or what?”

“But didn’t you tell me to…,” Daniel wonders.

“But what, what’s so motherfucking indispensable that stands in your way? His train leaves at 9:30. It’s just around 8:15 now, and we are talking about Seoul station in the city centre, not Incheon airport. There’s no way you can’t make it,” Jisung harshly interrupts, “you drag your feet on fucking everything! If you still like him, can you at least do something to show that you really do?”

Daniel blankly stares at the floor and utters, “well, I pla…”

“He’s my best friend, and I… I don’t want to see him in this state,” Jisung interjects again, shaking his head, “he may smile or crack a joke here and there now, but I know he’s not thoroughly happy inside. I mean, yes, in some ways, you are an asshole.”

Daniel shifts his gaze from the floor to Jisung immediately upon hearing what he said before Jisung continues, “but I know what he wants. He doesn't need someone who is mature or serious-minded as fuck, or someone who treats him like a prince. He just wants to feel loved by the one he loves, and that’s you. It has always been you, and I know you love him too. Prove it, please.”

Daniel stands still and remains speechless.

“God, why are you standing here, get going you bastard! Get going! Get going!” Jisung yells with a stomp, waving his arms in the air.

“Okay, See you,” Daniel breathily acknowledges while he turns away in no time and holds his hand out for a taxi.

-

“Seoul station, thank you,” Daniel informs the driver as soon as he gets on the car. He then takes out his phone to call Jaehwan.

“Hey Jaehwan, er…, change of plan,” Daniel speaks to him through the phone, “can you send the video to my email _now_ , I’ll email that to him, yeah… I’ll explain later, yeah, hurry. Send it now,please, thank you, Bye.”

Right after, he dials Seongwoo’s number; and as he expects, his call was not picked up once again.

“Sorry, umm, I’m in a hurry, can you drive faster?” Daniel requests as he pats the driver’s shoulder, “thank you.”

 

* * *

Seongwoo immediately ends the call when he sees the caller is Daniel. He tucks his phone into his pocket while he takes a peek of Minhyun, who is sitting next to him, completely undistracted from reading the work on his laptop. The two are now sitting on one of the benches in the departure hall of Seoul Station, waiting for the boarding of their train.

“Um…is it really fine for you take day-offs like this with such a short notice?” asks Seongwoo with concern, pointing at Minhyun’s laptop, “I don’t necessarily need any break between changing work locations actually. It’s not my first time.”

“It’s ok, I haven’t gone back to Busan for 3 years, cause I haven’t used my annual leave for the whole time. Even my boss finds it strange, haha,” answers Minhyun, closing his laptop, “don’t You need a break too? It’s gonna be tough for the next few months for you. You need to be familiar with a lot of new stuff.”

Seongwoo forces a smile, one that Minhyun notices how constrained it is.

“Missing Seoul already?” asks Minhyun as he leans in.

“No, not really, anywhere is the same for me,” Seongwoo replies flatly before the constrained smile reappears on his face.

“Do you want coffee?” Minhyun proposes, “We better get something to drink before we get to the train platform.”

Seongwoo nods his head.

“Flat White? Grande?” asks Minhyun as he stands up, getting ready to walk towards Starbucks, “look after our luggage, I’ll go get it.”

“Yeah, thank you,” Seongwoo answers before he blankly stares at floor, resting he head and his chin again.

 

A short vibration from his phone nudges Seongwoo from spacing out. He takes his phone out to have a look.

It’s a text from Daniel.

 

**Kang Daniel:**

_I know you don’t want to listen to my voice, but please check your email._

 

**Kang Daniel:**

_I’m coming as fast as I can._

 

**Kang Daniel:**

_Can you stay?_

 

 

Curious, Seongwoo clicks on the Mail app on his phone. And he finds a new one from Daniel, with nothing written in it but only a video attached.

 

Daniel is wearing a chipmunk costume in the video, one that Seongwoo recognises it’s Chip from Chip and Dale. He is sitting in a dimly lit area, facing the camera alone.

“ _Hi, it’s me. I…I know I look stupid with I’m wearing right now. Umm, I distinctively remember you said on Christmas Eve that you dreamt about us running in the airport, with Chip and Dale costumes, so, yes, I’m gonna run around in the airport with this costume because…um, I just want to let you know; I really do try my best to bear in mind everything that you said, even trifling things. And I know I have to make big gestures after what we have been through to let you know that I…I really love you, and I’m making efforts to be a better person, and I hope you are with me right now actualising your dreams._

_I…I’m sorry that my brain only gives me bizarre ideas like this one. You know, I’m never that kind of person who comes up with conventionally romantic ideas, and I know you don’t like material things like exorbitant gifts, flowers and stuffs. So, um…, I’m in one of the washrooms of the airport already in order to get changed. Okay, whooo~, Here we go.”_

The video then showcases Daniel holding out a selfie stick, filming himself on his iPhone running in Incheon Airport with the Chip costume on, while all the tourists, commuters and airport staff nearby leer at him with extreme confusion. He looks absolutely confident in the video while he sprint from one end of the arrival hall to another, even in an outlandish costume and with countless disapproving gazes from all the spectators nearby.

Part of Seongwoo finds this is very dumb, if not, preposterous.

Yet, the better part of him finds himself fighting against the tears in his eyes. His occasional stupidity, his boundless creativity, his eccentric way of seeing things in life, _everything_ ; all these traits of Daniel engulf Seongwoo’s mind as he finds it impossible to shift his gaze away from the pink-haired man on the screen.

It becomes harder and harder for Seongwoo to tear up only in small amounts while the video continues to play. He runs his hand through his hair while the tears lands on the keyboard of his laptop. He knows Minhyun is walking back from afar, but he cannot stop himself from forming more tears at the corner of his eyes.

Seongwoo still finds him very lovable after all the things they have been through.

At first, Minhyun was concerned to find Seongwoo sob from afar. His face, however, turns into one filled with defeat when he reaches their bench and clearly sees what Seongwoo is watching on his laptop.

“Remember the night when we drive you home from Chuncheon,” Minhyun mutters hollowly, “after I ask you if we can start our lives together afresh; you said…, you don’t think there is any possibility to be with him anymore.”

“I’m really sorry. I should’ve said no that time. I…, argh....”

Seongwoo manages to control his tears and lets out a sigh of grief, looking up at the ceiling before he continues very slowly with a shaky voice, “Do you remember that day you said I’m very different from other people you have met, and you like me because I have all these off-the-wall ideas.”

Minhyun remains his gaze on Seongwoo, knowing he has not finished his sentence.

“It’s all him. These quirky, bizarre ideas I have - they are all influenced by him. He… he is the one who affected me to think in this way,” Seongwoo chokes,  “and I…, I didn’t know when he started to leave such an irrevocable impact on me until you told me.”

Minhyun stares at the floor expressionlessly after hearing Seongwoo’s speech, almost tucking his chin to his chest.

“I…, I shouldn’t let you be blinded by the facade that I’m ready for another relationship, simply because I’m not with him anymore. I know you love me, but…, but I don't even know if I'm unwilling to forget him or just that I can't,” Seongwoo adds, “I still love him, even he makes me mad sometimes and tries to make amends in very silly ways. I just…I don't know. I cannot stop my heart from asking me to welcome him with open arms when I see the slightest change from him, I'm sorry, and I..., I....”

“It’s fine, it’s…it’s really fine. It really is. I told you on that day; you sholud choose him if you cannot decide, and I’m glad you made a clear decision now, it’s better for both of us,” Minhyun interrupts, contorting a languid smile, “I like you, but I won’t feel happy either if your soul is not here. I’d rather see you be with him if you really love him, with all your heart and soul. Just like someone I’ll find in the future that will do this to me.”

Seongwoo flattens his lips into one straight line and shakes his head lightly, wiping his tears with the back of his hands; but his face are soon seen with two clear trail of tears again, "I'm just really sorry."

“Don’t mind me,” Minhyun soothes, patting Seongwoo’s shoulder with a wry smile, “Go find the person you love, like what I did for you.”

 

* * *

Jisung is right. Normally, it takes around 30 minutes to Seoul Station by taxi, if only there was no traffic jam; Daniel does not arrive at Seoul Station until 9:15. He does not even wait for the change from the driver when he gets off from the taxi. With the biggest steps he can ever take with his legs, he sprints into the centre of the train station, only to realise he does not even know where to _start_ looking for Seongwoo.

The terminal is much more massive than Daniel ever recalls. It almost seems boundless and ever-expanding to him, and he is struck by a view of masses of people travelling from all directions in a hurry. He runs around and turns his head left and right, glancing at the faces of every single person in the terminal to search for any reminiscences of a familiar figure.

But he finds no one that even looks like Seongwoo; he is no where to be found for the next 15 minutes.

Daniel takes a look of his watch again, it’s 9:30 - the time Seongwoo’s train is scheduled to leave. He gazes at the flap display showing train information on top of the ticket office, and the train to Busan is shown to have departed.

With a big sigh, he wanders towards the exit, even though he keeps on turning his head to his back and scan all the faces of the passers-by again and again. He turns his head one last time as he steps out of the train station in hopes of a miracle, even though he can almost remember some of the faces with the amount of scans he have taken.

In vain, he turns his head back with a sigh.

 

And there he see him.

It's him. It has to be him, the person he is looking for, standing opposite to the exit of the train station across the zebra crossing with his back facing him.

It takes Daniel a delay to fully recover from the overwhelming feeling in his chest, before he can bringall his power to yell at the top of his lungs. 

 

“ONG! SEONG! WOO!”

 

Seongwoo freezes at where he stands for a second, alerted by the scream behind him.

He knows that it is Daniel, and he turns around to see Daniel jogging towards him.

For reasons he cannot even explain, he could feel his eyes become watery again, and he can tell Daniel is staring at him with eagerness.

“I know I haven’t done anything for you for the 2 years we were together. I’m sorry,” pants Daniel, recovering from the jog with a heaving chest, “And I really wanted to change. I know I need a big gesture to show that I really do. What you see is out of context. I… I rented a movie theatre and it’s supposed to be played after we watched a movie together as a surprise.”

While Seongwoo is moved, he really hates himself for being obstinately analytical even in this scenario. He wants to challenge Daniel on at least two grounds - First, why would Daniel think he will agree to watch a movie with him in the first place. Second, why would such childish behaviour on the video be a sign of change, and, to be exact, what kind of change is Daniel pinpointing to.

Still, He chooses to remain silent and shuts down the picky side of himself, knowing that Daniel has not completed his speech.

“Jaehwan and Sewoon always say I’m the immature one in the bunch. They say I’m not good at caring and be considerate to others. And I know you feel the same too, because I never seem to be a serious person,” Daniel continues, “but… but I’m ready to change for you. I know I still have a long way to go, but I really want to be someone who’s worthy of your love, And I… really want to be with you again.”

Seongwoo stares at Daniel with softness. Even though he still finds what Daniel does in the video very moronic, he cannot bring himself to hate Daniel’s underlying intention of making the video - Daniel wants him to feel loved, and Seongwoo does.

“I don’t care if you are going to Jeju soon. I don’t care if your first love is Jinyoung from B1A4.” Daniel repeats, “I really really just want to be with you, can you... can you give me a chance to prove myself?”

Seongwoo exhales heavily before he replies with a strange mix of adoration and anger, “Kang Daniel, if you don’t really mean it, just leave me alone. I… I’m not an easy to person to love. As you have said, I’m an expert at bottling up my feelings”

“But I love you just as your are,” utters Daniel before he takes a big step towards Seongwoo, “as I have also said.”

Seongwoo shifts his stare onto the floor. He is touched, despite Daniel’s poorly articulated speech and silly acts.

“Just give me a chance, _please_?” Daniel pleads, gazing at Seongwoo intensely.

Seongwoo lift his head up and reciprocates Daniel’s gaze for a second, before he turns his head to the right and looks upwards, funnelling all his energy to tighten his lips from leaking a beam.

“Huh?” asks Daniel, also turning his head to the right and notices Seongwoo’s smirk.

Seeing Daniel face turning to his direction, Seongwoo immediately turns his head to the left with his lips curving upwards, which Daniel again follows at once and asks, “huh?”

Seongwoo leaks a giggle before he tries to turn his head to the right again, being unable to conceal his joy anymore, only to be stopped by Daniel’s hands on both sides of his head.

“I’m serious, Ong Seongwoo, please?” asks Daniel with his lips pointing upwards, staring at Seongwoo with scalding intensity.

“You know the answer,” replies Seongwoo, radiating a blossomed smile.

Right after, Seongwoo can feel Daniel’s arms wrapping around him, a gesture that he eagerly reciprocates. Seongwoo swears it’s the tightest hug he has ever felt, but he still craves for more.

“I love you,” Daniel declares, landing his head on Seongwoo’s shoulder.

“Me too,” Seongwoo answers with his teeth showing, also placing his head on his lover’s shoulder.

The two remains in the tender embrace with their ever-widening smiles for a time that seems to last forever, savouring this wonderful moment of reunion.

“Hey,” Daniel breaks the silence after a pause, “um…what should we do now.”

“Er…,” Seongwoo ponders with chuckles, “make out?.”

“Can we do something more than that, like taking care of _the other Daniel_ tonight that you must have also missed?” asks Daniel, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Are you seriously making a dick joke right after we are back together,” Seongwoo retracts from the hug and gives Daniel the death stare.

“ _Bitch please_ ,” Daniel answers, imitating Seongwoo’s tone as he softly brushes Seongwoo’s hair, “I’m talking about _your cat, Daniel_. Let’s just order pizza and go to your home. I miss him. He should come to my home if Jisung and you always dread to take care of him.”

“We’ll think about it,” Seongwoo replies half-heartedly, waving his hands.

“I really like your cat, why do you have to separate us,” Daniel pouts his lips to act cute, holding Seongwoo’s luggage on one hand while placing the other on Seongwoo’s shoulder as the two start to wanders on the street.

“Because you already have me, and you should love me more first. He is just a side-hoe.”

“I sense jealousy.”

“That’s the real me. Welcome to the dark side.”

“I’ve been there.”

“I hate you.”

* * *

 

Life goes on.

Seongwoo still has to reach Jeju by next week; and it’s the day his flight is scheduled to depart. He is now lying down on the sofa with his phone in his hands after packing, scrolling through Instagram and Facebook. Daniel is sitting on the end of the sofa, playing with their cat.

Another arguably ordinary weekend, if the part of Seongwoo’s flight is excluded.

“Look,” utters Seongwoo, signalling Daniel to take a look of his phone.

“Who’s that, he looks familiar,” asks Daniel, pointing at the person on the left.

“Tsk, the one who you said the mortality rate of becoming his boyfriend is 100 percent,” Seongwoo retorts lazily.

“Huh? Daehwi?”

“Yeah, he has now moved to Seoul to live with his boyfriend,” explains Seongwoo, swiping right for other photos on their “house-warming” party.

“No kidding? You should organise another party when you come back, we should meet him and his boyfriend in person before it’s too late,” Daniel jokes.

“Your mouth really utters nothing but shit.”

“Your mouth utters nothing but poison too. By the way, have you deleted the clip?” asks Daniel, brushing the cat’s ears at the same time.

“What clip,” Seongwoo replies casually, returning his gaze on the phone as he continues to scroll through Facebook.

“That one,” Daniel drawls out, staring at Seongwoo.

“Which one?” Seongwoo answers flatly, deliberately locking his eyes on the phone to avoid any contact.

“Have you deleted the _clip_?” Daniel asks again, leaning in with widening eyes.

“Delete what?” Seongwoo chuckles.

“Tsk, come on…, I’m serious,” Daniel utters with a low voice.

“Oh~~~~ _That clip_ ,” Seongwoo laughs, sitting up straight, “yes, it’s deleted.”

“Swear to God that you really have?” Daniel raises his eyebrows.

“No I can’t,” Seongwoo snorts, placing one hand on Daniel’s shoulder, “I have a back up on my laptop.” 

“I KNEW IT.”

“But…but I’m leaving soon. I’ll miss you,” Seongwoo pouts his lips, “you look very cute in that Chip costume. I can always take a look of the clip and get a good laugh, just like all the people nearby when you film this.”

“You can look at the real person anytime!” Daniel quips, pointing at himself, “We can Skype! like what Jaehwan and Sewoon usually do. And I took annual leave to find you next month already.”

“Awwww Kang Daniel,… don’t make me delete it, please,” Seongwoo half-hearted pleads with a chortle.

“I literally begged Jaehwan to delete his copy,” Daniel says with despair.

“Please.”

“I’ll fart if you don't delete it,” Daniel threatens.

“There is no use; your clip has such a high probative value that I can withstand any torture. I can lick shit from a toilet bowl just to keep a copy, well, maybe not, but you know what I mean.”

“Come on, come on, _please_ …,” Daniel begs with his palms placed together.

“Let’s watch it together once and delete it, deal?”

“No, I don’t want to look at it. It’s so embarrassing, please…”

“Just once, then delete.”

“No.”

“ _Just once then delete. Just once then delete. Just once then delete. Just once then delete. Just once then delete. Just…,_ ” Seongwoo repeats.

“You have to keep your word,” Daniel warns.

“Deal.”

“I’ll be in deep shit if this is leaked. Gees, what was I thinking,” Daniel places both of his hands on his head.

“You were thinking about me, whole-heartedly, and exclusively,” Seongwoo surmises, turning on his laptop, “let me see…”

The two leans against each other as they watch Daniel’s video one last time. Seongwoo cannot stop himself from giggling, while Daniel holds the Chip and Dale cushion right in front of face to cover himself. Simply listening to the speech before he starts running is more then sufficient to make Daniel’s ears and cheeks turn red.

“Can we re-watch once more?” Seongwoo cackles after the video has ended.

“Tsk, Ong Seongwoo…”

“Fine, I’ll keep my promise,” Seongwoo assures, toggling the file to the Recycle Bin before closing the laptop, “you know, on second thought, that’s not how my dream really was. We run _together_ in Chip and Dale costumes in the airport, and, _well_ , aren’t we about to go to the airport.”

“What do you mean,” Daniel scrunches his nose.

“And you should still have the Chip and Dale costumes in your closet.”

Daniel gapes at Seongwoo with an open mouth, “you want us to run in Chip and Dale costumes in the airport later when we get there.”

“You push too hard, darling, but I accept,” Seongwoo smirks, quoting The Incredibles.

“I know that’s a a quote from Edna Mode. Don’t ruin another animated character for me,” Daniel rolls his eyes, standing up to get the car key near the front door.

“Wait, do we have to get going now? Isn’t it a bit too early though?” Seongwoo asks from the sofa.

“If you really want to do what you suggested, We have to go to my home first, cause the costumes are in my apartment, and we have to move your heavy paper boxes with all your belongings to my car first, and we have to feed Daniel before that. So it’s about time,” Daniel recounts.

Seongwoo crinkles into an affectionate smile before he stands up and strolls towards Daniel, “that’s a pity, you know, I was wondering if we can, umm…, squeeze some private time for us.”

Daniel raises his eyebrows as he sees Seongwoo sending a telltale gaze to him. The two immediately tugs towards each other closer as their lips touch. Seongwoo angles his head upwards to intensify their kiss while Daniel almost devours Seongwoo’s face with remarkable yearn.

One of Daniel’s hand slide underneath Seongwoo’s shirt when Seongwoo roughly brushes Daniel’s hair with both hands. Daniel moves downward to plant gentle kisses on Seongwoo’s neck before the latter starts to leak soft moans.

“Screw that stupid dream, this is more important,” Seongwoo pants as he takes off Daniel’s shirt in one-go.

Daniel repeats the same act on Seongwoo’s shirt; he also whips off his boyfriend’s belt and shoves down his pants and underwear hurriedly as their lips touch again. Seongwoo hangs both of his arms on Daniel’s shoulder while the latter yanks his own pants off of his feet.

“I wanna try that Long Island Iced Tea-flavoured one for long,” whispers Seongwoo into the back of Daniel’s neck. 

Just as Daniel is about to reach the coffee table and rip open the wrapper, both of them hear the utmost frightening sound of a key rattling in the front door.

It has to be Jisung.

“Fuck,” yells Seongwoo, who immediately grabs the clothes on the floor to put them on.

“Hold on! Don’t come in,” screams Daniel.

“Why? What is it?” yells Jisung behind the front door.

The two did not respond while they hurriedly put on their garments with laguhters.

“Oh my God,” Jisung grunts in realisation as he remains behind the front door, “you horny bastards, aren’t you two supposed to be getting ready to the airport? Just put on everything quick and tell me when I can come in. ”

“okay okay okay,” Daniel and Seongwoo replies at the same time as they giggle at each other for what just happened.

“And you guys are still laughing, gees, thank god I ask Youngmin and Woojin to buy some drinks downstairs before they come up,” Jisung chides, standing in the same position, “or else I have no idea how should I explain if they are here with me.”

“Um, Jisung-shi, we are behind you now, actually,” Woojin utters flatly, holding the cans of coke in his hand.

* * *

 

Eventually, Daniel and Seongwoo does not have the time to run in Chip and Dale costumes owing to the massive flow of tourists in the airport. The two are now squeezing tightly into each other’s arms in the airport, unwilling to be apart.

“Promise you’ll miss me, okay?” asks Seongwoo woefully.

“Of course,” says Daniel as the two stands near the Departure Immigration Hall, “but can I ask you one last question before you go in.”

“Why not.”

“Swear you’ll be super honest.”

“Tsk, you’re like primary school kids, just ask.”

“You know, now I look back,” starts Daniel, pinching Seongwoo’s cheek, “I think my video is pretty tacky actually, and I, I don’t think it conveys what I want to tell very well. I mean, I cannot emphasize enough how glad and thankful I am to be with you again, but why…why did come back to me even with that?”

“To be as honest as you want, the answer is — I don’t know; and I can’t pinpoint why either. it’s just a mix of different factors,” Seongwoo heaves a bracing breath before he answers at a slow speed, “I just…, I just think our relationship still worths another leap of faith? I mean. Yes, I can feel your sincerity when you said you are ready to be a better you in that clip, but that's just the tipping point, and the clip itself is really shitty and non-sensical. A lot of things happened basically. Maybe it’s just because I… I really love you. No, i mean, I’m in love with you, or both.”

“Why are you making a difference between to love and to be in love; what kind of self-help book are you reading,” Daniel wonders.

“Tsk, You don’t need to know, but you have to thank that person.”

“Anyway,” answers Daniel, who suddenly takes a big, violent step towards Seongwoo to plant a kiss on his cheek.

“Gees, _Kang Daniel_ ,” Seongwoo scorns with a soft voice while he places his hand on his moist cheek, “don’t do this in public, we are surrounded by literally tons of people. I don’t want unnecessary attention.”

“But you deserve some heartfelt gestures as a reward for being so honest. I always claim you are very good at bottling up feelings, but when I look back, I’m not that bad at it either,” Daniel utters, shoving his hands in his pocket, “I just… don’t want us to walk on such a circuitous path anymore. I don’t want to lose you again.”

“I really appreciate what you said, but, _eeeek_ , you are getting greasy; that’s what Daehwi and Jinyoung do, and it makes me puke. Tone it down a bit,” Seongwoo light-heartedly quips.

“But you are the one who makes this convo greasy first.”

“Cause you are asking me to be brutally honest!” 

“Fine.”

“By the way,” Seongwoo changes their topic, “I’ll fly back here on the weekend following the next for a night, it’s Jisung’s birthday, and we’ll have a costume party.”

“Okay…!? That’s new information, and I suppose we’ll just be Chip and Dale?.”

“You are so smart,” Seongwoo compliments, aggressively pinching both sides of Daniel’s cheeks, “just put it on to make sure it still fits.”

“Why would it be unfit all of a sudden,” Daniel rolls his eyes, “I just put that on recently, if you recall.”

“Just make sure it’s not torn then, okay?” Seongwoo flatly reminds, “That’s an important day for us too; it’s our anniversary.”

“Of course I remember — very distinctively indeed,” Daniel affirms, brushing Seongwoo’s cheek, “we became official on his birthday party after you hit on me.”

“What the fuck?” Seongwoo marvels, staring at Daniel with his mouth open.

“What,” asks Daniel, perplexed by Seongwoo’s expression.

“ _I hit on you?_ what are you talking about? You hit on me first!” Seongwoo disputes with a laugh.

“No, _you_ hit on me first,” insists Daniel, joining the laughter.

“You hit on me first!”

“It’s _you_.”

“ _Bitch pleas_ e, it’s _you_ , I’m _sure,_ ” Seongwoo playfully avows, rolling his eyes.

“Is it really?” Daniel furrows his eyebrows, craning his neck forward with a smile.

“Tsk, are you amnesiac or sick or what?” Seongwoo snickers, placing his hand on Daniel’s forehead, “you hit on me first!”

“Okay,” Daniel concedes, wrapping one of his arm around Seongwoo’s shoulder from behind, “ _I hit on you first_ , okay?”

Seongwoo hums as an agreement and nods his head violently, forming a beam from ear to ear before he turns his head and quickly leaves a peck on Daniel’s cheek.

“Didn’t you just lectured me for doing the same thing in public,” Daniel blurted.

“It’s the last one you’ll get before I leave, you should treasure it,” Seongwoo utters, “time for me to go in.”

“Text me when you get there,” Daniel whispers by Seongwoo’s ears as he grips his boyfriend’s waist towards him, placing his head on Seongwoo’s shoulder, “miss me, okay?”

“As if your question invites no as an answer,” Seongwoo replies with sarcasm, “of course I will.”

Seongwoo then reaches his hand-carry luggage and walks towards the airport security check with Daniel following from behind. He turns around to take one last glance of Daniel after a few steps, only to see him doing finger hearts with pouted lips.

“Can you not do this?” Seongwoo growls, trying to hide his laugh. He knows Daniel is trying to tease him by showing even more greasiness.

Daniel then places both of his hands on top of his head to form a heart shape with a opened-mouthed smile.

“Why do you always have to be so over-the-top stupid.”

“That's why you love me.”

“No, fu ck you.”

“Not a bad idea. We can try that when you come back.”

“I hate you.”

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of (useless and unnecessary) things to say:  
> 
> 
> 1\. I have to thank anyone who finds this fic tolerable and readable. You have more faith in me than myself.
> 
> 2\. To be honest, I struggled a lot in steering the direction of my fic. I want to make it realistic, but then I don't want to make it unnecessarily angsty, or funny. I just want to write a relatable fic between two (flawed) people who take a lot of turns to find out what they really need and love, because that's what we humans do. We are bound to be Daniel or Seongwoo in some relationships of our life, and my hope is you will see yourself in the characters (that will be my honour if you really do so, and I don't think I have reached there yet).
> 
> 3\. My favourite character here is actually Jisung, and my favourite quote from him is “You know, life is short, but it’s long enough for us to fall for a scum or two.” I hope the fact that I'm complimenting a quote written by myself will not weird you out.
> 
> 4\. I don't want a "perfect" ending where Jihoon met Minhyun because that's not how I pictured the setting of the story? And I don't want Daniel to do something really big (and objectively redeemable), that's not what he is good at (in this fic) either. More importantly, I think love inevitably involves an element of being recalcitrant. If you love someone, everything he/she does is good.
> 
> 5\. After this fic I need to take a break, because real life duties will flood me for the next few months. Will seize the time as a chance to come up with new plots and stories so that I can write them out quickly when I have time. Even though that may not help too much because my writer's block mainly concerns syntax and grammar. If you read my fic more than once you may figure out I re-organize the sequences of a lot of sentences. Please pardon me.
> 
> 6\. Yes, the idea of a prequel and sequel of this fic does linger in my mind, but that will depend on whether i can flesh out what I have in my mind. Some prompts may not fit into the storyline and eventually there may be a new story lol.
> 
> 7\. Once again, thank you.


	17. Not An Update!

As per the Chapter title suggests, this is not an actual update.

However, since my narcissistic ass likes this AU and I don’t want it to end, I decided to write some bonus chapters (and wilfully ignore real-life adult responsibilities). Some of the anticipated chapters include:

  1. Jisung’s birthday party
  2. Ongniel Jeju meet-up ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
  3. (Flashback to) Daehwi’s revelation of his true identity and his backstory to Jinyoung



The reason why I have to add an announcement chapter here is because I have ALSO decided to take some scenario requests of this AU.

Please comment below for what other scenarios (within this AU) that you would like to see. If there isn’t any (which is what my insecure ass expects), then sit back and enjoy the fic^^ 


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